Diabolus est Melodiam
by Adudefromthesea
Summary: Reincarnation, I read about it once, or rather, I have the memories of reading about it once. It's a strange experience to be born with another set of memories. But these memories taught me much, and they have showed me the true nature of the world that I now live in, and I promise to use the gift they gave to its fullest potential: [Self Insert/Oc] [Reincarnation] [CYOA]
1. Prologue

a/notes: So, this is a fic I'm writing back at QQ forum. I debated a lot about crossing this fic here, because it uses a Cyoa that, as far as I know, its exclusive for that site. But then I thought Whatever, might well put here and see what happen.

I'll put a explanation of the Cyoa (in the words of the author) by the end of the chapter, along with the choices I made of courser.

A fair warning the choices are overpowered, and the MC will be overpowered, because I like doing MCs like that. To be fair, I put some effort in the story (like world building and such) its still a shameless power fantasy, but I like to think its the entertaining kind of Power fantasy.

I have like ten chapters and two interludes of this ready, but I need to polish a little before pushing here, because this is my second story and my english was much worse then them it is now. So I should be putting one chapter a day until it catches up up or something.

Oh Yeah here some warnings: Dark themes (hopefully not edgy, oh how am I kidding!), Mature themes, Mind Control, Conspiracies, BSDM, Harem, and Incest... only the good stuff!

so here is the story, I hope you guys like it:

* * *

Prologue

* * *

Where am I?

…W-who am I?

I…I can't see anything… What is this place?

Slowly, my eyes began to get used to the darkness, allowing me to see my surroundings for the first time. There is a… A table in front of me with a silver case lying on top of it, there's also a simple clock hanging from the wall ahead, with two pointers instead of three, both pointing up. There is something about this clock, I think that is important, but I can't quite get it, I only know this: the clock is important, theimportanceoftheclockcannotbedenied,Imustfocusall mybeingontheclock,theclockmustbeplayedattentionto-

WAIT!

I managed to tear my eyes away from _**the clock**_ , fighting to catch my breath, this…this isn't normal, I feel my stomach twist with dread, my chest burn because of the effort it took for breathing, never before I been so- NO! Don't think about it! I-I got to get out of here.

I tried to get up from the chair I was sitting- WHAT!

I CAN'T GET UP! I CAN'T MOVE!

"HELP!" My scream echoed across the tiny room, "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

Fuck! I can't move!

Even the fucking chair doesn't budge an inch.

Oh, Fuck! I can't breathe!

I am dying! I can't see! I don't know where I am! I'm hurt! Please, I don't wanna die! Please!

MY ARM!

My right arm, I can move it now. I quickly tried to take out the restraints-

WHERE THE RESTRAINTS!

My body was being kept on this wooden chair by some kind of…of invisible force or something. I can move my upper body and right arm, but the rest stayed glue to the chair, and the fucking thing keeps challenging the laws of physics by not moving when I threw my weight around.

Right-Fuck! This is fuck up!- I have to calm down. This is going nowhere. Maybe I could use my arm to-

 _ **#Tic#**_

Everything stop. My entire body freezes, my mind became blank, and I knew from the deep of my soul that something monumental has just happened; I don't even have to look up to know that hanging quietly on the wall. _**The clock**_ began to move.

And deep inside, I knew what that means…

 _My Time is running out._

Before the panic could restart properly, an alien thought jumped to the forefront of my mind, it's was my thought yet not, it was a certainty and an instruction, something that I _have_ to do during my time here. Something that if I didn't, I would regret it for the rest of my days…

 _I have to choose._

FUCKING WHAT!?

There was nothing in this shitty room for me to choose from. I couldn't even get the fuck out of a damn chair, let alone make a choice that feels like it would define the rest of my days…Wait…

THE FUCKING CASE!

I hastily threw my arm to grab the object, but the sensation brought by the contact made me flinch. It was like holding my entire fate in one hand. I could feel the magnitude of the choice I was about to make, this moment was going to define my whole life.

Ok…Calm down, I really, _really_ have to have a clear head to do this. This is the one thing I can't fuck up.

Breathe…

…

 _ **#Toc#**_

ALRIGHT, IM GOING, GODDAMNIT!

With a shaking hand, I opened the damn thing.

Inside there were… shots? Tiny shot glasses filled with some liquid, each in different colors…I don't understand-

 _ **#Tic#**_

ALRIGHT, JUST… Cut it out…

Ok, I pick the colorless one in the middle, the one that looked more like vodka to me; maybe it had less chance of being an experimental drug or something.

I take all in one gulp- It's water…Is this a joke?

Ok! Choice made, you can release me now!

 _ **#Toc#**_

…And the clock still ticking, is about to reach the halfway point, fuck! What does that mean?… Perhaps… Do I have to drink more?

I grab the red one now… It tastes… strong, something that I can't…

Ugr!

 _The weigh of the world_ falls over me. My movements became sluggish; each breath became an impossible effort and… and then everything goes back to normal, and I could move again.

OK, FUCK THAT! I know the drink did something to me, I can feel it-

 _ **#Tic#**_

…I have to drink more. I can't afford not to. The drinks are precious, and I have to drink as many as I can!

I pick the blue one… It tasted like a mystery; literally, I don't know how I knew that taste but apparent-

My vision darkens, _the weight_ came back, twice as dense than before, some of my bones broke under the pressure, I could discern which, but the blinding pain felt too real.

Then, it stops; everything went back to normal once again. I was left leaning as far as my upper body could go. I could see drops of blood falling to the floor, breathing hurts so much.

 _ **#Toc#**_

I have to drink…

My hand picked up the yellow one, bringing to my mouth with some difficult, everything hurt.

It tasted like greed…

…

I…Still…Alive…

The…Clock…Almost…No time…

I…Have…To…Drink…

The…Green…

It...Falls…

Too…Heavy…

…The…Orange…

Its… falls…

…Focus!

Just…One…More

 _ **#Tic#**_

Agrr!

The pink… The pink one…

Ah…Ah… My arm doesn't move.

MOVE IT!

…HA!

Careful…

Don't…Let it fall…

 _ **#Toc#**_

Nooo…

Please…Just…One…More

…

 _ **#Click#**_

…

…So sweet.

-0-0-0-

I have grown to like this new life.

Sure, it has been some difficult few months before everything fit together, but I like to think I got a much better deal than the other self-insert characters I read about in my old life. Instead of having everything shoved in my head in one day or worse waking up inside of a uterus; I gently dreamed everything from my past life over the course of my first months living my new one.

Now, that isn't to say everything went perfectly. If the intention was for me to be an actual self-insert character, I believe I would have to feel as if the man whom memories belonged was me.

And I don't feel like that.

The man and I are different people. Sure, his knowledge played a big part in the formation of my personality, and I might have acquired a taste for some of his fetishes, but none of what was left of him held any influence over my consciousness, all of his memories were presented to me in a reasonably detachable way; I _watched_ his experiences, rather than living them.

That isn't to say I resent the man, quite the contrary; I held great gratitude for that man who lived a pleasant but uneventful life. The knowledge that he left would help me significantly in the future, and the wealth of media he consumed were quite entertaining. However, I'm not the same person.

So, who am I?

Well, my first few weeks were plagued by that question, and they were quite dull now that I look back on it. Once more I'm very grateful for the memories, as they gave me the much-needed context for these basic, but pointless questions. I would decide who I am later, taking in accord my future actions and choices.

One thing that was made clear was that I'm not normal, even by the standard of this new life.

A baby is not born with full self-awareness, that's for sure. Even when I first opened my eyes, I could see and understand everything around me. And that makes for a very confused baby.

So my first few weeks of awareness were spent pondering about the profound questions about life and existence; quite like that whale that was born beside a bowl of petunias a thousand feet's up in the sky. Only for most to be answered by the upcoming memories, and the answers being a variation of the always wise: 'Don't think about it'.

But they brought more than answers; they brought knowledge, wisdom, ideas, and more important _**Power.**_

That's how I knew this is a reincarnation situation, an isekai story so to speak, I'm living inside a light novel.

A light-hearted harem light novel with a very dangerous world for anyone opposing or not directly involved with a pervert draconic teenager powered by the power of breasts.

I'm in High School DxD.

I've picked up enough clues over that past few months to say that for certain.

And yes I shat myself when I first found out, literally, babies' bowel control sucks.

Now, as I say, High School DxD is scary as fuck, underneath its harem comedy surface lays a complex world at the brink of war, full of conspiracies, violence, fuck up shit happening in the background, sometimes for laughs, and beings that could casually destroy everyone if they feel like it. On top of all that the 'rules' of the setting were wonky at best, meaning that people could do some impossible things that break the established order using the power of friendship, or breasts, in this case. But the worst thing by far, it's the lack of information I have about the setting.

The man from my old life had watched a great number of animes in the past, thousand hours of content about many different series, but this particular series he never managed to get into. At first, he avoided like the plague by the principle of being a cliché harem anime, a genre that he quickly got sick of. But after finding out that it had an interesting modern fantasy setting, he went back and finally watched the series… and dropped the thing on the fourth episode.

The show was unwatchable for him for some reason, it wasn't like he didn't sit through a shit anime before, but that particular one rubs him in all the worst ways. He even tried to read the light novel, but the thing was written in _the perspective of the shittiest main character he had ever seen._

So, that only left me with information from fanfics and wikis, and some vague knowledge about the canon up to a point where some swords got stolen or something. So yeah, I'm in an incredibly dangerous world with almost no knowledge about the things to come.

But there is some silver lining in all of this.

Two things really, two things that kept me from running to the sideline, tried to stay as invisible as possible and hoped for the best.

The first; I was born a Devil.

For those who don't know; that's the race whose magic abilities were ruled by _imagination;_ as in, everything you can imagine, you can do it, if you have enough power.

 _That's a power gamer went dream._

The second…well it was a gift from my old life.

Five set of powers. Five incredibly overpowered, beautifully broken set of power, so overpowered that I can reliably say that I can reach the same level of the most powerful being of this world, and surpass them.

I'm talking Ophis, Great Red, and Trihexa.

Maybe if I was born human… I would be content to live a peaceful life, like the man of my memories did.

But as I am now, with the power of my imagination and the bullshit of my Essences.

I can't just leave the shining place at the top alone, not when I can see it so clearly.

My name is Elias Dantalion. And I am going to make this world into my bitch.

* * *

CYOA used:

 **Essence META CYOA**  
You find yourself before a shrouded figure standing behind a table. On the table are many potions, choose as many as you want or none. The choice is yours. In addition pick additional CYOAs or none to add on to this if you want some adventure.  
Each one infuses you with a variety of effects which cannot be taken from you unless you willingly allow it.  
The Potions  
Note: exact effects in different ones such as perfect memory, intelligence, etc. do not stack.

 **Essence of the Blank**  
By taking this essence, you gain but one benefit:  
Your potential becomes limitless. You can learn any discipline or skillset, even if you shouldn't be capable of it, without forgetting it and practice them into mastery, no matter how many you learn. Any abilities you have from other Essences will increase where possible and develop in ways beyond their initial purposes.

 **Essence of the Warlord**  
By consuming the essence of the Warlord you are granted several boons.

*A body just above peak human in ability, one sculped to your tastes and tougher then it should be. This body can grow in ability and durability through training.

*Infinite willpower to tackle any foe, even bloody and broken you will not stop.

*Endless endurance, stamina, and immunity to pain.

*Mild regenerative ability able to come back from would be fatal wounds in minutes.

*Supernatural mastery of many weapons and unarmed styles, even just plain old brawling.

*Immense skill conducting war on a strategic and tactical level.

*Good handle of logistics and how to raise and train a force from a small band of soldiers to entire armies.

*Charisma to lead and inspire said armies even at your darkest hour.

 **Essence of the Archmage**  
By consuming the essence of the Archmage you gain several boons

*Perfect memory with infinite storage

*Beyond genius level intellect

*Capacity to learn any 'magic' even unique ones upon seeing it once or understanding enough about it. This also includes things like Ki, Chakra, soul power, etc.

*Possess a supernatural reactor that can adapt to any supernatural energy to fuel spells, enchantments, powers, etc. this reactor provides a steady supply of power that will grow over time, right now you could use high consumption abilities with wild abandon and still not make much of a dent after a few hours.

*Can teach others systems even if they previously lacked the capacity.

*Manipulate entire systems or combine then with experimentation.

 **Essence of the Binder**  
By consuming the essence of the binder you gain several boons

*Have the ability to mark targets with a sigil of your own design. This sigil manifests wherever you want on their body and may even be full body tattoos should you wish. The Mark can become invisible without active use. At its base lets you telepathically speak to each other and know the exact location and status of whoever marked. This mark is completely immune to any sort of tampering save yourself and is otherwise permanent though you may remove any mark with but a thought.

*Those bound by the mark gain access to weaker versions of the essences you have, even this one. You may choose which essences they are empowered with. They may also be granted weaker forms of other powers you may possess at your discretion. If the mark is removed they will retain some but not all of this power just wisps of it.

*Marked beings who mark others will give weaker versions of their own powers to their marked

*Marked beings have a sense of innate loyalty to you instilled within them, they will be unlikely to betray you unless horribly abused. This loyalty may be dialed from slight trust all the way to utter devotion. This function only rests with you and those you explicitly give it to. You may optionally discard this function permanently this once.

*The Binder has the ability to invoke 'commands' which are absolute orders the marked is compelled to follow to the best of their ability even functions they might not have exact control over like bodily functions. This function only rests with you and those you explicitly give it may optionally discard this function permanently this once.

*Those marked may be summoned and dismissed by you at will and even stored away in a void inaccessible by all but you for safe keeping when not needed. They will be in a sleep like stasis when in storage and will not suffer from the passage of time or basic needs.

*If a marked individual is killed even down to the soul they will instead respawn safe and sound inside your storage. Dead beings can be marked if you have remains, a object heavily associated/meaningful to them, or a soul to interact with, they will reform alive as if they had died as one of your marked.

*You and others marked may set conditions and requirements for certain powers or essences, even restrictions that lock down powers should they violate a restriction or other punishment.

*those marked can have their appearance, traits, attributes, and mark changed slowly by the binder.

 **Essence of the Breeder**  
By taking this essence, you become the sexiest thing alive.

*Your body is changed to become your ultimate ideal of sex appeal, including tremendous endowment.

*Porn physics apply to you.

*Members of the opposite sex are inexorably drawn to you. You may toggle this on or off, or set it to target certain criteria.

*Your charisma increases to ridiculous levels.

*You are guaranteed to impregnate or be impregnated every time you have sex, with however many or few babies you want. This can be toggled on and off.

*Pregnancies last up to a third as fast as normal, and your offspring reach sexual maturity in a matter of months.

*There are no negative consequences for incest.

*Your offspring (which can be any sex you wish) can inherit your abilities, either at full power or weaker.

*You can breed with any species, and the offspring will either be a half-breed (with just the right amount of fusion) or purely one of the parent's species. You choose which.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

* * *

"Ne, ne, Elyyy… can you say that again, you almost got it last time." The beautiful woman once again crawled into my field of vision, using a toy to draw my attention, "Just say Mama sweetie, here like that. Maaa…maaa,"

I decided to throw her a bone, and instead of turning my head away and pretending to be distracted by something else, like I was doing for the last ten minutes, I did my best to get my baby mouth to emulate the sounds. Truth be told, I was getting tired of trying to speak for today, but her reactions are frankly adorable and always a blast to see, so I made sure to sound as closes as possible, just enough to be understandable but not enough that could be deemed as intentional. A baby with proper enunciation would raise some questions after all.

Sure enough, she didn't disappoint.

"EEEh! Yes! Just like that Ely!" She shrieks loudly before grabbing me from my sitting position on the floor, and starts to dance around the room with me in her arms, "You say Mama right? That's counts as the first words right!?" She asks… me? I think, there are just the two of us in the room. "Ahh! You're so smart!"

She lets her body falls into an elegant but comfortable chair, hugging me tightly between her…frankly enormous breasts, and letting out happy and satisfying giggles. In my first few days a baby, this would seriously threaten my life but I long since learned the correct way to position my head in order to not be suffocated by the twin mountains.

Araneya Dantalion is a… complicated woman, as my new birth mother, she was the very first individual I ever got a proper look at; before I even had context for _anything_ really, the world was a confusing, scaring mess, and I couldn't really process the information I was getting, and I was being passed around no stop, so everything was also _moving_ , just to add to my panic. It was only when I was put in Araneya's arms that things calmed down a little and I could _think_ for the first time… but just for a second as I was quickly captivated by her visage.

Soft, delicate features with a well-sculpted nose and a pretty mouth, healthy milky skin with no blemishes, a crown of cascading snow white hair… all of that makes that for the most beautiful woman that I had ever seen, but it wasn't her beauty that captivated me, as I didn't understand the concept of beauty at the time, it was the _look_ in her expressive blood red eyes.

It wasn't love…no; she would later look me with love many times. The feeling that she was expressing at that moment was something more _profound_ … some would say it was _obsession_ , but that didn't even scratch the surfaced of the _intensity_ of the felling. Of course, I didn't know what it was at the time, and I still don't… But to me, it was oddly beautiful.

And that was my introduction to Araneya Dantalion, we would quickly grow closer over the next few months, given my fascination for her, and the fact that she literally didn't let me out of her sight.

On my every waken moment she there by my side, carrying me around the weird mansion/medieval castle that we lived in. Doing her best to take care of my every need. She often needed help from the maids… and the maids often had to stop her from doing something that was considered inappropriate for someone of her 'status,' like changing my diapers or trying to breastfeed me.

Thankfully, she kept her usual childish demeanor only for the times when we were alone, preferring to wear her elegant and serene mask while dealing with others. Outside this room, she is a perfect image of a young aristocratic lady; graceful, soft-spoken, and respectful, with a Mona Lisa-like smile that put people at ease, every movement she made could easily be worth of a painting. I like to think I managed to add to this beautiful _fake_ image, by being an overly calm baby with a tendency to sleep a lot. She must have enchanted quite a few staff members while having tea at the magically heated garden while I was sleeping peacefully on her lap.

Beneath this submissive lady image of her, lies a loving, caring, if slightly childish woman who doesn't hesitate in showing affection and was unafraid of ruining expensive dresses by playing with her son on the floor. But that was also a mask… Beneath all of that lies something much more… _Broken._

…You fascinate me, Araneya Dantalion.

…

Now, can you please explain to me what exactly are you doing?

"Hehehe, it's just going to be a little, alright. You deserve it, after your first words." She said, working on her dress; it was simpler than usual, making easier for her to uncover the massive breasts.

I give her my best deadpan look.

"M-Moou, don't look at me like that Elyy," She whined pathetically, her face falling a little, indicating her depressive state, had this been an anime, a dark cloud would probably appear above her head. "It makes me feel like I failed at being a mother."

Is this my fault? I mean, the man I used to be, held an unhealthy fetish for breast and milk, and some of it may or may not have rubbed into me. But my own mother! She couldn't have been like that before, that must be the work of the Breeder's Essence. Every single time we were alone she tries to find some excuse to 'feed' me.

Her eyes began to water, ironically given me the puppy eyes. Seriously woman! It's supposed to be the other way around!

I sighed inwardly and moved my little arm in her direction; she lets out a little squeal of happiness, before quickly pulling me to one of her mountains.

"Yes, just like that sweetie, you are such a hungry boy-Mh!" she moans when I give the stronger than normal initial suck, to make the milk came out, "This is just a little mother-son bonding," she whispers to herself.

Yeah, Yeah, whatever you say, woman. The sounds you make during our 'bonding' tell a different story.

All weirdness aside, it is a genuinely nice experience for us. I could feel her body relax entirely around me, she softly murmured a song and occasionally let out a sigh or a silent moan, and I drank the delicious milk for the warm heavenly globe, even if the sounds she was making would cause a very stiff problem if I didn't have a baby's body.

Is that weird? It probably is. But according to my Essence, my life is ruled by porn logic now, might as well enjoy the little things. At least nobody tried to molest me yet.

She pulled me out after half an hour or so. Letting a satisfying puff, and cleaning the sweat for her forehead, her face spotted a faint blush, and she was breathing a little deeper now. Her body was definitely a lot warmer than before.

Mother-son bonding huh? I wonder what's goes through her mind during it; she must have known that the sensations she feels are a tad inappropriate by now.

She brought me to her other nipple. I don't mind; I could be breastfed all day long and never be full, probably because of porn logics or something. Surprise the shit out of my wet nurse when I first drank her dry too, and it's a good thing because the amount of-

There was a knock on the door.

The sound immediately breaks Araneya from her bliss, every single one of her supernaturally strong muscles tightened like steel cables. Her eyes flashed with deep fear for a fraction of a second before her mask fell into place.

Her posture straightened, her arms held me closer, her eyes gained a serene light, a beautiful small smile forms on her face, everything about her scream 'proper lady'. She could walk to a ballroom right now, even with her tits exposed, and nobody would question her presence.

"…Is that you, Codsworth?" She intones in a perfectly controlled voice.

"Yes, my Lady," The old Butler responded through the door. I suspect he's the only male member of the staff, as he is one of the only two men I saw in this new life, "Master Dantalion sent me to remind you of the hours."

There is it, the slight flinch she has, every time the Master of the Dantalion house is mentioned. Curiously, she only has it while inside this room, in any other place she would stay perfectly still with the smile entirely in place, even if they actually meet. But in this room, it affects her more, like it was something that did not belong here.

"…Yes, Codsworth, thank you, please tell my husband I'll be with him shortly, Elias has been particularly unruly tonight, I have yet to put him to sleep."

"Yes, My lady."

One of the things someone would expect from such a clingy woman, one who insists on spending as much time as possible with me, was that she would take me to sleep with her. But I slept alone in this room every night, for the entirety of my short life. Every night she tried to spend a little more time together, to push the time a bit further, maybe hoping that he wouldn't remember her. But he always does, always calls for her, and she always answered.

Sometimes, she comes back, in the earliest hours of the morning, walking through the long hallways with silent steps. She's content just to watch me sleep then, occasionally reaching out with her hand, but never quite touching, just to make sure that I'm real, that I'm really there. And when dawn came, she would leave to clean herself and 'wake me up' later.

These times were when she's most broken; when no mask is capable to hid her shattered state, her eyes showed only emptiness and despair, so she comes to the only asylum that she has, and tried to gather strength for the next day.

After the second time that happened, I began 'waking up' for myself minutes after she enters the room, which prompts her to sing me back to 'sleep'. It helps her a little.

As Codsworth's steps echoes through the hallway, I began to nuzzle her petrified form, helping her drop the mask. Soon after, the shaking and quiet sobbing started.

…

One day I will find out who broke her…

…And I will break them.

-0-0-0-

Araneya left me alone after having put me to 'sleep.' Giving me eight to nine hours of unsupervised freedom, or four if this is one of those nights.

This is the most critical part of my day.

I long since gave up the time to sleep, preferring to do it during the day while being carried around and looking cute. Luckily my 'infinite stamina' reduces my need for sleep greatly, right now is mostly to take care of mental fatigue

You see, this world is a terrifying place, full of danger and expectations, and I, most likely, will be thrust into the forefront of the devil's faction politics, being the heir of one of the 72 pillar of the underworld (the devil part that is). While that ambient will no doubt have plenty of cutthroats assholes who will want me dead or manipulated, it didn't even compare to the dangers posed by the real powers of this world, like the top 10, and that 666 Beast thing. So, my first instinct after absolving enough memories about the setting to make sense of things… was to cry and shit myself, but after that, was to _become powerful._

That is the only real way to live freely in this world, without being bothered by anyone, or worried about anything. I had to become too powerful to kill or manipulate.

Maybe there were other ways, and I'm letting my advantages get to my head. But I have a real shot to the top now, how could I waste it?

So, like I good old self-insert character my objective right now is to accumulate enough power to shit on everyone, and have some fun along the way, of course.

Now, being a tiny baby puts some limits to what I can do with my body. But with my magic, well things are a bit more _interesting._

The beautiful and frustrating thing about magic in DXD, is that any magic besides human's magic, which was controlled by calculations, is controlled by _imagination._

Basically, if you can think it and had enough power, you could do it. There were _some_ limitations, mostly by outside factors, but the light novel breaks that so often that's almost a joke by that point.

I understand, however, that this isn't a light novel or an anime. This is real; things could very well be entirely new and different here, that kept me from experimenting too much with magic at first, for fear of accidentally blowing myself off. All I did was to try to manipulate the 'fuel' of my magic, in my race's case, demonic energy. Turn up, I was actually pretty good at it, having an entire life worth of memories of living without any exoteric energy made the thing very noticeable to me, after that, it was only a matter of practice.

I was pleased with the result then; when the possibility of surpassing everything hadn't even crossed my mind, when I was content to make myself just strong enough to not die and kept living on the sidelines. Then the memories reached it ends, with the very least one being some vague shit about him being strapped on a chair, and at that moment my _Essences_ activated.

The description of the powers of each was craved on my mind; literally, I could remember every single word of the text, it felt like I couldn't forget them. These were the things that gave me an edge, that gave me the potential I needed to climb the impossible mountain.

Anyway, the one that helped me the most since then, was the Essence of the Archmage.

It allowed me to step up my secret magic training, by finally giving me the first real way to _use_ magic.

You see, having an entirely thought-base magic system forces the devil to think about _every_ aspect of the spell, being forced to consider the size; the speed, the strength, the effect, the limits, and more. That was because 'imagination' is a concept too abstract to really make full use of, making it difficult to use it freely in battle. Most devils get around that problem by storing the spell in magic circles, allowing them to casts spells by just throwing power at it, without having to think about the nuances of every spell.

I didn't read this in a book or hear a conversation about it, no. I pieced together this information using the insights given to me by the Archmage's Essence.

One of the powers of the Essence is making me able to _'learn any magic',_ no matter how unique, upon seeing it once or understanding enough about it, that's vague ass description; it doesn't say that I could learn any kind 'magic spells', or 'enchantment', it says _'any magic'_ in _general_ , it worked on individual spells just as well as it worked on _entire magical systems._

There was some limit to it though; with individual spells, it worked fine, it immediately showed me the characteristics of the spell, how it worked, what its effects, even the thought process that the caster use to make it. With 'magical system' however, the response was very slow, usually giving my insights about the nature of the system every time I saw a spell that belongs to that particular system. That's how the nuances of the devilkind's imagination based magical system slowing came together on my mind, without me having to read or being taught about it.

That allowed me to _experiment._

But first.

I shot four invisible burst of demonic power following a particular patter, all of them hit the 'vigilance' spells integrated into the walls of the room, giving an image of a baby peacefully sleeping to anyone watching. Originally, this was above my level. I couldn't make head and tails about these powerful spells, but Araneya was kind enough to show me how to fool it, she uses this to hide our 'bonding time' together, I use to hide my progress.

My magical training was progressing nicely, but there was one particular kind of 'magic' that was proceeding at an incredibly fast pace.

My heritage; the Dantalion's clan innate magical technic, the ability which marked them as one of the pillars of the underworld…

My _shadow_ bulged and oozed from my crib. A mass of shadow tendrils slowing spilling into the third dimension, materializing and gaining solid form, the ink-black tendrils crawled between the wooden bars of my crib and slowly raise me from it, bringing me to the center of the room like a unholy mix of a spider's legs and octopus's tentacles, its form leaving an almost smoke-like trail in each movement.

Shadow-Control, very edgy…

 _And, fucking incredible._

I understand now why Rias seemed to focus solemnly on her Power of Destruction. If it's anything like my Shadow-Control, it makes sense for her to do so. The thing came so naturally, so easy that regular Devil's magic couldn't even compare. It was like moving a limb; I didn't have to focus on the specifics of 'How', I just have to move it, making for the fastest ability in my arsenal. It does require demonic power to use, but I didn't even have to fuel it actively, the process was automatic; I just have to keep track of the quantity consumed, as more complex moves take more power.

But this ability is much more than it initially appears. I figure that out by the many insights given by my Essence, so many that it made my head ache on the first time I saw it. My mind isn't even _elevated_ enough to catch some of it. This is more than a cool power that my family can use; this is one of the signature abilities of the best of devilkind, it was one of the physical representations of its potential. So yeah, it goes a lot _deeper_ than Shadow-Control.

The best way I could describe it, going by the insights that I could understand, was that this power was like a Devil Fruit on steroids. It worked by giving someone power and how the devil used the power determinate how far he or she could stretch it. In my case, with my overly active imagination and the Archmage's Essence, I would get _Conceptual_ real soon.

I really wanted to find out how far I could bullshit my way to power with this…

Carefully, I began to focus on the shadow tendrils holding me afloat. Its form spreading to connect with the nearby shadows, moving deeper and deeper into the endless abyss, making more connections, and reaching further and further away… Then, after I judged far enough…

I slid into it…

…

… **Lets get to work.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

* * *

So, I can walk and talk now, which is neat.

And apparently, I'm the cutest baby of the underworld, according to Araneya and the maids at least, which is also neat, but very bad for my poor cheeks.

We are, currently, in the heated garden, a part of the Castle that is open to the skies; a magical barrier kept the freezing temperatures outside, while also acting as an artificial sun for the fauna and flora inside; most of it being expensive imports from the human world.

I was walking along the pretty flowers, chasing butterflies and throwing rocks at the pond like a three years toddler that I am. Araneya was sitting in the gazebo sniping her afternoon tea in full 'Lady Mode.'

She just recently stopped her insistence in carry me around all the time but only if I stayed as close as possible, it has taken me asking for her to do so explicitly. She didn't take it well at the time, but the 'bonding' that followed cheered her up a little. Her eyes still followed me all the time though.

The maids also began to change attitudes around me. Where before they keep a respectable distance, now they do their best to draw my attention to themselves, like making funny faces, giving me little waves, leaving me candy, that kind of things… All behind Araneya's back of course.

It scared the fuck out of me when it began to happen. I didn't know why they were acting like that at first, so I got a little freaked out. But then, I saw myself in the mirror, and got enraptured by my reflection like a tiny Narcissus, only tearing my eyes away from it when Araneya carried me out of the room.

Seriously, this level of cuteness can't be natural.

The Breeder's Essence states that I would become 'the sexiest thing alive,' so I figure it would drastically increase my natural looks or something. Well no, that's not it. A simple 'increase' doesn't even begin to explain that mind-stooping, heart-aching level of perfection I saw in there. This was no 'increase in looks,' this was the 'cutest baby already in the process of becoming the sexiest thing alive.'

So, yes I could understand how my smile or a simple look from my big ruby eyes could send a maid into a giggle fit, or cause a blush in the most hard-hearted of them.

One time, Araneya gave me a piece of chocolate, the first candy of this new life; I reacted to the taste like Nanachi from Made in Abyss, just for the heck of it. It knocks out everyone around me…

But where was I? Oh! Right, chasing butterflies, I might look like I'm doing on the surface, but in truth, I'm thinking about new ways to better myself…Ok, and the Blue and gold butterflies also looked pretty badass.

I'm hesitant to begin the physical training right now, mostly because of my age; I don't know how a devil's body worked, but heavy physical conditioning on a three-year-old sound likes a stupid idea.

My ideas for physical training boiled down to abusing the fuck of the Warlock Essence, and that means a good old shounen's weight training.

I wouldn't use an actual weigh for it, I'm developing a spell that wound partially restraint all of my movements, and automatically increase the strength of the bonds the more I became used to it, that would put stress on all of my muscle at the same time, making them stronger in the process, that's in theory anyway.

My demonic energy grew like a muscle the more magic I used. I have no reason to doubt that my real muscle wouldn't grow like that, and with my Essence of the Blank make my potential limitless. I could, in theory, go full Saitama if I train hard enough.

Now, there are two problems with that; the first is that I don't know how the Essence will react to magically induced effort, instead of proper a physical one. It could very well not work as described, but I suppose that is something that I would find out when I try. The second problem comes from maintaining the spell without drawing attention to myself.

That one I could work a little more freely, harnessing one of the most superficial aspects of shadows; the ability to 'hide' things. I could develop something with the sole propose to redirect attention, or make something unseen or hide away its presence, I was thinking of an aura- Hum? What's that crushing sound?

Oh!

…I'm crushing a bird with my tiny hands, it was clearly dead; I must have grabbed it when it flew close to me.

…Why did I do that? And why am I still doing that for that matter?

…

"Why do you look so distressed my child?" Araneya approached elegantly from behind; she must have sensed my turmoil. She paused when she saw the bird, "Oh Elias, you shouldn't play with such a dirty thing, it might soil your clothes,"

…What? Well, it didn't hurt to ask.

I dropped the dead bird on the ground and turned to face her; she looked at me with the patience only a mother could have.

"Mother…I kill the birdy, but I didn't want to… why?" I prefer to speak as little as possible, mostly because I don't know how to emulate a child who is just learning to speak. There were some stumbles, but luckily the melody of my voice is enough to put people out of balance.

"Oh, my dear child, that's perfectly normal for a young devil like yourself, no need to worry," she gently stroked my hair, if we were alone she would have hugged me already, "You see, all devil have urges that could manifest in a variety of ways, some would eat a lot of food, others would collect a lot of things, and sometimes they would break thing without even realize it. We all learn how to control these urges eventually. I bet you would learn to control it really soon too, give how smart you are." She closes her eyes and nods softly, "As expected from my child, most devils only noticed this when they are much older."

… She says that so casually.

The light novel didn't say anything about that, at least as far as I know. The anime also was a mystery to me, but would they say something like that, a silly harem light novel talking about something like this.

I killed something.

I just took the life of an animal and didn't feel anything, I did it unconsciously too, with my mind lost in something else, and now, I don't even feel an ounce of regret about it.

Killing small animals without remorse would raise a lot of red flags in a human child, but here, it seems like something every devil kid passes through eventually.

…I'm not human. Even if I see the world with a human-like perspective because of the memories, my nature still the same, I'm a Devil.

How much the light novel didn't tell about my race.

"Mother, Can we go to the library?" I Asked. The pseudo magic/rule of reality called 'language' that allowed a devil to speak and understand every language in the world does accord for written language, but there were some exceptions; like the demonic scripts, the official written language of this part of the underworld.

"Oh, do you wish to hear the stories of our ancestors once again," Araneya said magnanimously, reaching her own conclusion, not even bothering to ask for my reasons, just happy to have an excuse to put me on her lap, "Very well then, come along my dear child, I will satisfy your thirst for knowledge." She was practically skipping as she led me into the castle.

I must learn to read soon and begin devouring books.

…I will never again be caught by surprise by my own nature.

-0-0-0-

On my fourth birthday, Araneya prepared a surprise for me.

An awesome surprised.

For the first time, I would get out of the castle that I spent my entire life in, and would have a tour across the city of Hiemsfell the 'Capital' of the Dantalion region of the underworld. Have my very first look at the lands and the devils that my clan was responsible for.

The entire day was fascinating.

Firstly, I found out the Dantalion clan didn't actually have a female only staff, just that the ones that worked in the castle were exclusively female. The ones working outside didn't have the restriction, for example, the guards the patrolled the surroundings of the ancestral family castle were primarily males, but not exclusively.

We stayed in the high quality closed carriage during most of the travel, getting out only in key points across the city.

The way to the city was already a fun trip. The two members of Master Dantalion's peerage that were charged with our protection stayed outside for most of the time, and the carriage had some pretty strong privacy enchantments, that allowed Araneya to be her most fun self for most of the three hours trip. When she wasn't explaining the history of the region, she was telling stories, singing and playing games… it was a pretty good time.

Also, really informative, apparent the Dantalion's region was the deathbed of the original Leviathan. Its death set out the eternal winter, which the land is now known for; on its best day the temperature was a bit below 'cold as fuck,' but the skies were clear. On it's worse the entire place gets swallowed by white death in the form of a 'fuck you' super blizzard. This region is known for producing strong devils, and being a hardcore training ground… also gems, lot and lot of precious gems.

"We are the main supplier of precious gems in all of the Underworld." Araneya seemed oddly proud of that fact for someone who doesn't usually wear any, "Every jeweler and enchanter hunger for a Dantalion's gem to work their art on. There are known for their quality." She informed.

The tour was also a highlight. Araneya's little sounds, and adorable reactions as she eagerly explained the place she has been to, and the new ones, painted the city in a very colorful and friendly light, even one with such imposing architecture.

The place has grown at a fast pace with the influx of new reincarnate devils and the modern human's innovations that came with them. The entire Underworld was experiencing a cultural revolution, and this place was no different. The fast integration of human culture changed much of the city in the last few years. Personally, I didn't know how it was before, but the place looked like a Russian city like Moscou or Saint Petersburg.

We had a lovely day, getting out in some of the tourist's locations and beautiful parks. Araneya talked no stop about the thing that she could remember and the new ones that she hasn't see. I got the feeling that she didn't get out all that much.

But the trip was not only informative because our talk, no it was because of the _people._

You see; I'm trying very hard to pull whatever bullshit I could from my Shadow-Control. It wasn't easy, even with the Archmage's Essence helping me, so it goes without saying that I'm trying to think outside of the box with this one.

One of the breakthroughs I manage to hit as the 'connection' aspect of the Shadows.

A shadow never exists on its own; it's always existed because something also exists.

 _ **Everything that is, cast a Shadow.**_

Therefore every shadow is always 'connect' to something.

I decided to play with that, trying to find out what I could make out of it. The result was my ability to connect with someone else's shadows and pull something from them.

Superficially, I could pull the immediate senses, like vision, sounds, smell, and touch. That made me a pretty badass spy on it on its own right, it was almost like I was on the same place with the person that was casting the shadow, but I didn't stop there. I try to reach deeper, finally managing to pull thoughts, feelings, and memories from it.

The superficial thoughts were more accessible, but memories were fucking hard. It also was a bitch to control; sometimes I pulled the wrong thing, or got the information out of order, or pulled so much that I would be overwhelmed if it wasn't for the mental bust from the Archmage's Essence.

The best part is, I didn't need to connect my own shadow to get this results directly. Sure, it would give me _much_ better control, but a moving shadow was kind of attention-grabbing. The reason for that is that my power doesn't only control my own shadow, but control _'shadows'_ in general.

Anyway, the population of Hiemsfell was a virtual goldmine of information. The pieces that I acquire allowed me to construct a better picture of the Dantalion's region, and maybe even the entire underworld.

It worked better when we were in the carriage though, even if the movement limited my reach, that's because we attracted a lot of attention when we got out, filling the minds of everyone around with things like; _"The member of one of the pillar!" , "What an honor!"_ or _"Men, what I wouldn't give to fuck those tits"…_

…Killing that last guy would attract a lot of attention, so I didn't do it, but the urge was great and very powerful.

Moving on…

The interesting part about the Underworld that the light novel didn't mention is the fact that this place is _Hell_ , literally. Hiemsfell city is the only proper city in the entire region, and that was because of the proximity of the Dantalion family and by extension it's protection, but everywhere else; if it wasn't part of a direct operation involving the regional power or the government's power it was down to its own luck.

Settlement and village come and go, if some grew to a certain size it was obliged to pay taxes, but other than that they where left to make their own rules, leaving and any spot of civilization, in a classic wild west situation, only like…in Skyrim or something, and even if someone managed to survive the mini-dictatorship that formed on these places, they would still have to deal with the native fauna and flora, and these things wouldn't be out of place in a 40k death world.

Seriously some hellbeasts out there could give a high-level devil a run for their money.

And that is not even mentioning Hiemsfell City itself. I didn't get deep enough to know, but if this place didn't have a fuck up dark side to it, I'd eat my shoe.

But overall, it was a pretty enjoyable experience, my best birthday by far. Shame it didn't stay that way.

He was waiting for us when we got back.

…Ok, saying that he was waiting _for us_ was a bit of stretch. It was more like, he was preparing for an expedition, and we happen to meet in the front garden when we got back.

We stepped down the carriage and made our way to greet him, as it was the required thing to do. Araneya has locked herself in lady mode, her smile more graceful than usual, her eyes shone with a well-trained light; her movements lacked any hesitation. She gave him a deep bow when we got an appropriately close. I grabbed dress's skirt, trying to convey whatever support I could.

"Are you going hunting, dear husband?" she sang in a perfect controlled voice, "Should we expect you for dinner?"

Gerhardt Dantalion was a tall and powerfully built man; he kept his bright blond hair pulled in a low ponytail without a single strand left untied, his ruggedly handsome face held a well-groomed beard, and his piercing golden eyes could strip a man down to his very soul, even behind the elegant pair of glasses. Today he was dressed in his battle attire; a full leather garb made to favored fast movement, which molded together with his muscles giving him an even more intimidating look. An elegant short sword was held on his waist, and his signature battleaxe was on his back.

Like I say, most likely some kind of expedition; a group of guards was just finishing the preparations, and his two knights that were with us early, quickly joined his rook and bishop at his side.

"No." his deep voice was loud even in its normal tone. "There were reports of an increase in the hellbeast population on the edge of the Caligo forest. I decided to go deal with it myself, to exterminate them more quickly, but I will not be back for dinner, you two go ahead and eat without me."

He finished tightening his glove turning to look Araneya directly in the eyes.

"However, I will be back before midnight; I expect you to already be in our room by them." He emphasized.

"As you wish, dear husband." She didn't even pause; it wasn't the first time this happened. She's used to it.

Then, he takes a step toward us.

Now, Araneya was very used to his actions by now; she would always react accordingly; rubbing her hands in his chest if he pulled her close, giggle softly if he whispers in her ears, and kiss back if he meets her lips. But he didn't take a step toward her…

He takes a step toward _me._

 _And she was not prepared for that._

A loud, strangled hiccup escaped her throat, her expression froze, and her eyes widened like plates. The deeply integrated fear within bare itself for the entire world to see. For the first time in a must be years, her lady's mask was broken.

His shadow whispered about his triumphant feeling to me, while he gets to one knee to speak.

"And you my son, how are you doing?" His eyes softened when he looked at me, and the smile he gave was genuine. He puts his hand over my head covering almost all of it.

…

Gerhardt Dantalion has never been this close to death before, and he didn't even realize it.

It would have been so _easy,_ so _trivial,_ to kill him now. He wouldn't even have time to react, not like this, where he wasn't expecting anything; all it would take was a clean, hypersonic fast swing from a two-dimensional shadow blade, shot from his own shadow no less. He wouldn't realize that he was dead at first, not until he makes a move to stand, and his head falls as a result of the cellular-level laceration.

… But I couldn't kill him… not yet.

So, using every ounce of the infinite willpower that my Essence gave me, I hold back the firestorm inside.

"I'm fine father, thank you for asking." I said respectfully, but I didn't manage to hold all back, "Can you please leave now, you are upsetting mother" She let another strangled sound by my response.

All that got for me was a raised eyebrow, and soon, a deep chuckle followed. The proud feeling that his shadow was convening left a bad taste in my mouth.

When he finally left, I took a second to watch his back, thinking about our relationship until now.

We didn't interact all that much. We see each other every day, mostly during the family meals, but these were silent affairs, our talks outside of that boiled down to awkward basic questions and greetings. He never really mistreated me, order me around, or demand anything. He gave the vibe of a tough guy, who has no idea of how to act around children, but it was obvious from the way he acted and the looks he gave me, that his affection was genuine.

Truth be told, He hadn't given me enough reason to hate him…

But he is partially responsible, if not solely responsible, for Araneya current state.

And that's reason enough.

I raise my arm to grip Araneya's hand. She was cold, pale, her face still locked in a broken smile, her eyes lost somewhere else. I gently began to lead her to my room, the only place where she could adequately pick herself up. The violent shaking started as soon as we close the door.

… She kept me in a hug for a very long time.

-0-0-0-

I was in the shadows once again.

My reach could now encompass the entire area around the Dantalion's castle, managing to get to the very edge of the Family's territory. I could keep track of every predator hunting in the cold forest, every prey desperately trying to hide. I could follow every guard on their routes as they patrol the region. I could observe the garrison where the other regiment slept peacefully, gathering strength for the next day. I could be in the servants' mansion, where the servants who worked outside the castle rest for the night. Going closer, I could taste the movements of the castle's restless maids, so few of them asleep, most were having fun telling gossips and playing games, some chose to engage in a more _intimate_ kind of games, all of that under that shadows of night and its watchful gaze.

I could also see Gerhardt Dantalion fucking Araneya Dantalion.

Over the last few weeks, I dedicated some of my training time to find out more about this man, ever since I discovered that he couldn't feel me in his shadow. His past still a mystery, but by following his present actions and reading his thought process, I gained a better understanding of the Devil known as Gerhardt Dantalion.

He was a hard man of few words, preferring to use a more direct approach to deal with people or solve problems. He behaves with the usual arrogance common in devils from noble birth, but didn't let it cloud his vision; he long since learned the unnecessary cruelty is just not efficient, and tried to treat everyone as equal, but only when it comes to official business. He is also a firm believer of fairness and tried to be as fair as possible when dealing with anyone, no matter if it's a close friend or someone he detests, he is also a high-level devil with proven power, and is an _excellent_ leader. Under his command, he brought power and prestige to the house Dantalion, which apparently was facing a bit of a hard time before he came along. He is also generally well liked by most of his servants and is respected by his peerage

His biggest failing by far was his _lust._

Gerhardt Dantalion is a great adorer and seeker of pleasure, the amount of sex this man have on a single day is staggering. If it weren't for the fact that he could go for extended periods without thinking about the act if he wanted to, I would honestly believe that he is a nymphomaniac. But even if he isn't one, he certainly tries his damn best to live like one.

He slept with every single maid of the castle at least once. At any moment that he could get away with, he has someone pleasuring him or putting a show in front of him. Every time he is in his office a maid will surely be beneath the desk, if he is training he likes to listen to someone fucking in the background, if he's bored he pull a nearby woman to a closet. He's also very quick to grown tired of a particular woman. He doesn't get rid of her or fires her or anything; he just focuses on the next one until his interest is picked again.

The older maids all accept this; apparent it was part of the course for a maid of prestigious devil families, it is very common around the Underworld. They do warn the younger maids of this possibility, but sometimes a single warning isn't enough to prepare for when things get real.

You see, Gerhardt has a severe problem with been denied about these kinds of things, especially when he gets going, and he knows that he could get away with a lot of shit for being the head of one of the pillars families, so any new maid who think she can deal with this, but has seconds thoughts at the moment of the action, is in for a very traumatic time.

And then, there is Araneya…

In some ways he loves her, but that doesn't give justice to it, no…

Gerhardt Dantalion was _utterly obsessed_ with her.

The thing about Araneya is that even if she developed a pretty strong mask over the years, she was born with a very sensitive body, and was weak to stimulation of any kind, especially painful, or sexual ones.

And she was very, _very_ reactive to it, even with her strongest mask; she couldn't hold back the sounds, the tears, and the expressions… at least not for long.

And Gerhardt was absolutely captivated by this.

She has become the single woman that he couldn't get enough off. He takes her every night, always trying to see a particular reaction he loved so much, always pushing further, trying to find a new one to delight himself to, at some point he began to feel like she was the best woman from him. That's just made his thirst increase.

From what I manage to get, it was much worse before I was born, as he didn't keep exclusively to the nights. Often pulling her to a corner, or spending the entire day together in their room. Apparently, my conception happened when he fucked her on a balcony, out in the opening where everyone could plainly see, the staff kept a polite distance, but they still remember that day clearly.

Sometimes, he goes too far, and ended up leaving marks; he would regret it on the next day, but never for too long, as he loved the reaction that he got to see. That's the most important aspect to him, _the reactions_.

When he is too tired and fall asleep earlier, she'd sneak back into my room; he knows that she does that, but doesn't care, he knows he could always call her again anytime.

I also managed to get his dark fantasies about her, about how she would react if she were put in certain kind of situations, all of which were usually too perverse to put her through. She stills the Lady of House Dantalion after all, putting her through one of these out cause _rumors_ , but he still daydreams about them very vividly.

... That man came close to death many times in these last few weeks, and he didn't even know about it.

…

I _think_ I would be able to kill him… _maybe…_

But I couldn't…

Not yet.

Because as much as I come to despise him, I still need him.

He is an excellent head for the Dantalion clan, managing to navigate the Underworld's messy political fiend, making allied, destroying enemies, and keeping much more at bay. If I kill him now, House Dantalion would have no shield against those who wanted to take a bite of it, and for me to keep that from happening I would have to reveal my tricks very early in the game, and I couldn't afford that. This prep time is perhaps the most crucial time I have.

And he got connections.

Powerful connection with influential families, people who need him very much alive, that would be extremely pissed if he dies. And that not even counting for the impact his death would cause; he is the head of one of the most important families of the devilkind, a race that was suffering a population shortage that made every member much more valuable than before.

In short, if he died, a Satan would get involved, and that could and would be very bad for me.

So that it, the reasons…

The fucking selfish reason for why I'm letting Araneya being used every single night, to protect my own sorry ass and using others as a meat shield to keep the difficulties away.

Yeah, I do feel like a piece of shit right now.

And that why I am here sitting there in the shadows, watching as he violates her…

My shadow moves to connect to hers; it felt different than any other that I ever linked to, deeper somehow, but it still familiar enough for me to pull things through.

 _I would pull her sensations to me…_

…What?! Isn't it obvious!? If I'm condemning her to be used by this piece of shit until I get _my lazy ass up_ and become strong enough to _fuck everything around me._ Then is only far that I feel everything that she is subjugated too Right!? RIGHT!?

That's what I deserved.

I brace for the pain and the feeling of a brutal insertion. Some part of me didn't want me to do it, but this is something that I couldn't get out freely, this isn't a decision I shouldn't make without sacrifice.

So, I pulled those sensations.

…Nothing happen.

What that fuck!

The connecting between the shadows broke before anything could come through.

The fuck! That never happened before.

I tried once again, bracing myself for it… And nothing.

Ok, what the hell?! Am I subconsciously breaking the connecting because of the disgust or something? Trying to hold on to my pride!?

I made the connecting once again, this time trying to figure out what happening using my Essence to help me, everything is working like normal until I try to pull anything-Oh!

That… what the fuck, seriously!

This… this woman, sometimes… fucking hell!

Her shadow is recognizing my own…

They do not have a mind of their own or anything, it just that… as the shadows are always connected to something, part of that something becomes part of the shadow. So, part of Araneya is residing inside her shadow, and her shadow is much more active than a normal one because of her Dantalion Blood.

Her shadow is recognizing my own, noticing what I'm trying to do, realizing that it would cause me pain and reaction accordingly… by cutting the connection as fast as it could.

Fuck… even subconsciously… she…

Why the FUCK Am I crying, she is the one in pain!

… What up with mothers doing the impossible trying to protect their kids, man.

…

Fucking hell, she never would let me to this.

…

But to be fair, I was trying to hurt myself for no reason like an idiot teenager.

…

Fine! I wouldn't feel it, but I will watch it. Every time I have from training, I would always watch; every abuse, every humiliation, every wound, everything.

I will always remember the suffering that he put _My Mother_ through.

And when the time comes…

 _Her face was blue from the lack of air a big hand gripped her throat tightly; the tiny gasps are all she managed to do, tears running freely down her face._

 _He twists her waist with his powerful arm, the new angle bringing much more discomfort, without hesitation he trusted deep, ponding her center with no mercy, the gasp became louder in response to the pain and the horrifying pleasure._

 **I will return it, a hundred folds.**


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

* * *

"For countless eons, we, devils, were a Race who proud ourselves by our physical and magical might. Others, lesser races, shake in terror for the sheer destruction we could unleash. Our history was written by the filthy blood of their kin as we enslaved them…"

Devil lessons are interesting.

Because of my advanced intellect, and for demonstrating that I could already read, the Master of this household saw fit to begin my lessons early. So, instead of the usual six, I'm starting at the young age of four and a half.

"Our glory and renown spread toward all of Existence; we became the pinnacle of righteous power! Eventually, our magnificence drew the envious eyes of the hateful Being in Heaven, who tried to subjugate us, to turn us in just another of his instrument to be used. But did he succeed it, NO! And he would later pay dearly for his insolence…"

The tutor he got me was apparent a specialist in teaching the basic knowledge of our race and lay the foundation to others tutors, but more important, he is known for bringing the 'hidden potential' of his students. I was sure he told me his name at some point, but I couldn't be bothered to remember.

It was very obvious what he was trying to do.

"And among our race, there were some who differentiate themselves from the rest, among the _many_ natural power that our kind possess, there were some which were deathlier, more fit to _exist_ in our blood, and these chosen few climbed the latter of the strongest to the very top. Managing to stand alongside the mighty Old Satans, the progenitors of our very kind..."

I wonder where Mother is… She wasn't allowed to stay in the room, to not distract me, apparently. So, she began prowling around the door, trying to look through to keyhole, straightening herself elegantly if someone was about to enter the hallway. It was adorable, but she isn't there anymore.

"And you, master Elias, is the direct descendant of one of these Devils. The mighty Dantalion himself! Who made furtive killing into an art form! Before, we foolishly thought it was a tactic only suited the weak, but when his cunning allowed him to bath in the blood of millions of the so-called 'strong', his methods were adequately recognized as a necessary war strategy, and when those who still doubted him challenging him to a battle. He showed the underworld that his methods were a _choice_ , rather than a _necessity_. The cowards who tried to run from the massacre would later disappear into the night, never to hear from again…"

There she is! Looks like she realized that the room has a window for the heated garden. Right now, she was sitting in one of the elaborate benches pretending to read a book.

" _Ahem_ … master Elias…"

I turn my attention back to the tutor. I couldn't look sheepish for that was beneath my station, but I gave him the dignity of an apologetic smile, he seems to appreciate the gesture. You'd be amazed how much a goodwill a noble born Devil could get if they get off their high horse once and a while, even for the little things; people notice that.

He was a genuinely good teacher, even for one who loved the sound of his own voice, and was a little obsesses with death and blood. But mother already told me about that, and she is a much better storyteller; she gives the characters funny voices and everything. That's why is hard to pay attention.

He let out a sigh.

"…Perhaps it's best for us to focus on the practical aspect for the moment," He said, fixing his glasses.

Hooo? Focused on the actual reason for why you are there already huh…

"It could be argued that the most important aspect of our strength is our demonic energy." He began, slipping in a well-used rhetoric, "It allows us to bring our imagination to life, but I assure you that's a lot more difficult than it sounds; to learn how to use demonic energy is a essential part of a Devil life," Then, he gets to the point that he tried to lead me to, "However, with the devils front the 72 pillars, whose natural abilities has been greatly polished over the years, it much more easy to have proper feel one's demonic energy through the usage of these abilities."

In other words; he is trying to find out if I can use the Dantalion's kekkei genkai. Yeah, going by his shadow, his primary objective is to get me to harness my Clan's power and confirm that I'm a 'proper' heir.

That is his primary function; he is a special tutor hired by the pillar's Families to help the heirs access their power. Sometimes, his services aren't necessary because the kid manifest the potential at an early age, but some Families are notorious for having hard to use power and need the help of a specialist to help bring it out.

Sometimes, the Satans themselves send one, if the family didn't hire them first, because they also serve as a sensor for the suitable heirs of the Underworld so no Family can hide some 'shame.' I would have thought this would cause an outrage, having someone intrude in the family business like that, but the practice so common now that it has become a status signal, its like having your child examined by a doctor, to have him say that everything is ok, only to rub in the face of everyone who wished otherwise.

I really, _really_ wish that this wasn't the only method they have to tell is someone inherited to powers or not; what it someone manifest it later in life? That sounds like a reasonable possibility…

"Now, these abilities were developed to the point of been intuitive. So, I will teach you a meditation exercise that would help you with that, now, close your eyes…"

I made a satisfying show of being a confused child that struggles a bit before getting it right in the end, not easy enough to be considered a super genius, just acceptable enough. Turn out; having charisma at 'ridiculous' level allowed me to become a pretty mean actor, seriously I made myself crying with a mirror once, I didn't even know if that was possible.

The shriek of happiness that happened in the background when a two-dimensional line of shadow rose to adult height was also a highlight, Mother wasn't the one responsible for it, nay; she was a proper lady through and through, she also wasn't brought the book that near her face to hide the charming blush, no sir, she only found an exciting passage… and the book _definitely_ wasn't upside down.

Anyway, the guy was satisfied with the easy job, and filled the rest of the lesson with exercises of Energy manipulation and some history about our kind, after that he went to Gerhardt to report the good news.

I got ambushed by Mother seconds after I got out, she grabs me by the hand a bit forcedly and elegantly said that a new garb just come from the tailor, and I have to try it out; with translates to _I need to hug you to death right now, lets go to your room where I can do that freely._

By night, I trained more and worked on my plans to kill Gerhardt with fewer repercussions was possible…I'm getting there…

And life and on…

-0-0-0-

…To just a few days later, apparently.

It seems that my capacity to shadow-bend would change a lot of things really soon.

Now that I have been recognized as the proper heir of House Dantalion, I would have a lot more responsibilities than before. The lessons still paramount right now, but I would have to 'represent' my house so to speak; begin to get more involved with its business, meeting its servants, meeting the allies, try to make new ones, and most of all participate in _Social Events_ …As in, properly integrate with devil society… I really should see that coming.

BUT, I didn't have to do that now, I'm still very young after all, but I would have to begin doing these things.

Firstly we had to make the title of heir 'official,' in the eyes of the Underworld, that means throwing a party to 'present' me to society. And that brought great news!

Gerhardt would have to prepare that said party, and this means meeting allies to lay the groundwork for it, and officially inviting his peers in one of the Satans' regular political meeting.

With means; we get two weeks without him!

Yay!

A went tongue suddenly licked me on the cheek, making me flinch.

" _Gah!_ What was that woman?!" I shout indignant. Trying to hold back the blush.

"Hehehe I couldn't help, Ely's thinking face looked so cute I wanted to taste it. Mommy's sorry" She didn't look apologetic at all.

"Whatever… Just let me make the move."

My shadow stretched from the bed to the chessboard on the floor, as it got close, it spilled out into the third diminution forming a hand, then, it moved my black bishop accordingly.

Mother watched all that with shining eyes.

"You're so talented sweetie, mommy couldn't even move her shadow at your age, let alone stretch it this far," she lowers her head back to her breasts which she was using as a pillow. "My baby's going be so strong." She sang dreamily.

"…S-so, what if I'm" I turn my head to look away, her vision is too fucking sexy right now, it was hard to look at it…and away from.

We spent all day together in this room. After Gerhardt left early in the morning, she spat something to the staff about teaching me the ancient ways of the Dantalion's and that we will need to spend as much time together as possible, and ordered our meals to be brought to the door and left there, otherwise to keep clean of the hallway. I suspect my room is the only place we will be during these two weeks, barring bathroom breaks, and if this day was any indication, we weren't allowed to be more the arms reach from each other neither.

…Alright, I admit, Mother can be a bit much sometimes.

Inside, she pulled one of her tricks and released a stupid amount of Party games, storybooks, candy, pillows, sheets and spare clothes from her shadow storage, and then we proceed to mess up the room.

Oh, and she has a shadow storage…

Make sense really, she has Shadow Control for all her life, so it was bound for her to have some tricks hidden in her sleeves. According to her, she was never very good at using her shadow, so she was no ability combat wise, but she learned a lot of small party tricks over the year, and some of them were really useful.

She was ecstatic by the opportunity to teach me her tricks, calling us 'shadow buddies' when I learned the first one, she got a little melancholic for a while after that.

In return, I taught her the trick I 'found out' about; how to connect shadow. She _loved it_ , I don't think she was proficient enough to do anything to with it yet, but the feeling of closeness we get from directly being linked was intense. Our shadow stayed connected most of the time ever since.

Her shadow is…well; it felt different than any other, it was very lethargic, but… well, it's hard to explain, the best way I could…It's like _a Sleeping Abyss._

Does every Dantalion's shadow feel like that? Does my feel like that?

I watch as her beautiful face crumbles in concentration, the tip of the pink tongue perking from the side of her lips, as she makes an effort to stretch her shadow to move her piece, it was slow and sluggish, but it's getting there.

I tried really hard to focus only on her face, for the way she dresses lie temptation.

Having long since stripped from the elegant dress, now she is in her 'nightwear,' which wasn't a nightwear no matter what she said, it was a _lingerie,_ there was no other way around it. A white baby doll that had an entirely pointless upper part composed of thin cloth lines that wrapped _around_ the breast leaving them bare to the world, the lower portion (which began under the _naked breasts_ ) had a loose little dress thing that reaches to her thigh, and was practically see-through her bottom was covered by a small, elaborate white panty with a little pink bow on the crouch, the thing didn't even cover half of the plump asscheeks.

She was lying on her stomach waving her legs waving lazily in the air like a teenager, the breasts were pushed up by the position, and now they were her pillows.

I never saw her in so few clothes before.

Ok look, I know that our relationship is way past the regular one, and I long since accepted that we will cross some lines in the future, but a rapidly dying part of me was still skittish around the idea. So, I was torn between not to look, or look like my life depended on it… the latter was winning.

"I win" She chips happily.

"What? No, you don-" Wait… moving the knight, taking the pawn… Holy fuck she had locked me and would win in five turns. "…You won"

"Yay! Mommy wins!" She goes to a kneeling position doing a victory dance.

Her body undulates with no real rhythm, the light of the magical candles danced across the milking skin, showing every contour, displaying her very subtle muscles beautifully. The two massive mountains bounced hypnotically, sometimes almost touching her face. Her expression was one of easy-going happiness

She's so relaxed now… that's good… she's been very on edge lately.

That man figured out that he could draw a reaction from her in the open by getting close to me. She wasn't used to that yet, so it hit her hard to think that he would do whatever she imagined he would to me. I began to actively avoid him after that, but she still stayed agitated until tonight.

…I don't think I can hold back the urge to kill him much longer, even if-

 _Smack_

…

"Mother…"I began patiently, " Did you just smack my face with your boob?"

"It because Ely expression got troubled for a moment, we can't have that tonight!" Then, she suddenly realized something, "I-I didn't hurt you right?"

"No, you didn't," I sight, "but you're right, none of that tonight…"

"…But you still look troubled."

She gave me a patient smile, moving to herself to be right in front of me, with hands resting on her thighs, her arm pushing her breasts together, and a warm look.

"What's on your mind, Ely?"

Gerhardt Dantalion painful death…

My eyes lowered.

"Nothing, Don't worry about it," I did _Not._ Sounded like a child right now.

"Huumm," Ok, that sounded a little annoying.

"OH!" She sounds like she realized something."Hhooohh."

What's with that smug look, woman

"What is it, mother?"

"My little Ely is one of that kind of devil huuhh…" she teases, leaning forward.

"Hum…What? I don't think I Understand."

"Don't try to denying mister I saw the way you were looking at Mommy's boobs."

What!?... Well, I was… but what does that have to do with anything?

"…C-cant you explained better, which kinds of devil?"

"Oh!... You really don't know… hehe" she looked sheepish, one hand rubbing the back of her head, "Soorry… Ely's just so smart sometimes, it's hard to remember that you don't know everything."

She soon was back to teasing, wiggling a little as she explained.

"You see, remember that urges that devils have, weeell one of this urges is to like err..boobs! A little bit too much. Ely must be one of them. That actually explains a lot!" She pauses for a second putting her hands on her cheeks, "You was such a hungry baby, and could drink so much too…"

Oh yeah, the sin's urges thing; I guess that makes some sense, at least go her out of my back for the moment.

"Neee, Eelyy."

Huh!?

"Is no good for you to have this kind of urge you know…" She leaned even more in my direction now.

"You a big important heir now, but you still young and could easily lose control…" well, that's a…worrying light in her eyes now, I began to retreat. She followed.

"It's not good for an heir to attack someone because he couldn't control his urges…" My back hit the bed's headboard.

She brought her face close to me and pressed her boobs tightly against my chest, not quite crushing me as her arms and legs still supported most of her weight, but enough to for me to feel their weight. Her face already spotted a faint blush, and her eyes held a very real flicker of lust and anticipation.

"Should mommy help her baby with his urges?" She said playfully, but I caught the hopeful tone underneath.

…

… Fuck It. Let's see how deep this rabbit hole goes.

"…Can you help me, mommy." I say as innocently as I could.

I could practically see the shiver traversing her entire body.

The warm breaths hit my face a little faster now, a multitude of emotions flashes in her eyes, she began to close that gap between us before reconsidering something on the last moment, and plant the kiss between my eyes.

Then, she began to move, making sure to rub her body against mine as much as possible. Her hands gripping the edge of the headboard, her legs moving to support her better, her knees pressing against my legs just above my feet's. She raises her rear up, bending her spine enough to leave the hanging breasts just outside my reach.

"…Right," she breathes out anxiously, "Now, sweetie, listen to me, for you to let out your urges you just have to follow your instincts, so just do what feels best, and it will be fine. The important thing to remember is to be gentle at first alright? they are very sensitive… you can get a bit rough later if you want but not too much… Mn, biting is also alright, but you have to go slow, I'll tell you when is too much ok," She breathing was getting faster the more she explained, the anticipation was killing her too, "J-just follows these things and it should be fine… Are you ready?"

I dumbly mumble an affirmative, it was tough to think with your vision taken by _The Perfect Breasts_ ; the vast globes of flesh hanged proudly in front of me, bouncing softy with each breath she took, a thin layer of swear already began to form, making them more beautiful in the flicking light. A drop trails it down until it gets to the pale pink nipple…

Then, she _finally_ lowers herself to my reach.

I'm really glad for my infinite willpower, because it took all of it to not jump on her like a beast in heat; instead I raised my little hands to the base of the globes feeling the warm skin under it, the smooth flesh molded around my fingers, her breast were more soft than firm, but still retained a supernatural level of perkiness, especially for ones this big; I began to rub the place gently, determined to take my time with this.

I was searching for the places where she feels more pleasure, caressing the side and underboob, squeezing, rubbing and sometimes pinching way to the tip, but never once touching it with a full hand. I made sure to pay attention to the quiet gasps and little twitches; as she said before, she does react well to some roughness, but nothing too extreme, soon I was moving more daringly, with fewer hesitation, reaching her _many_ pleasure spots, all while slowing bring my face close.

The stimulation as getting to her, I couldn't see her face, but her breaths were coming heavy, an occasional little moan escaped her lips, the trembling was a constant presence now, but she did her best to keep the breasts in place, to not disturb my fun. I smiled as the shadow says that her only focus now is my approaching mouth.

I pause for just a moment to admire sight; my own warm breath hit the much-neglected nipple, sending shivers by the contact. She does not have a small areolae but it wasn't too big neither, the usually pale, pink halo was vibrant and hard, puffing slightly from the milky flesh around it, the tip also was on a big side, but it was partially engulfed by the puffiness, I know from experience that with the right amount of suction it could swell forward for about half an inch.

"Ah!" she lets out slightly louder gags as my lips met the hardened tip, but she was quick to get back control of the volume. She couldn't control the movements of her rear though, which began to shake against the air.

My tongue slowing rotates around the tip; texting the area, giving familiar sucks to the salty flesh. The kisses and nibbles brought tremors to her entire body; the sounds that she was making began to gain volume. This part is indeed on a different level than the rest regarding sensibility.

I felt that the left nipple was getting lonely, so I gripped the tip very softly with my teeth's and pulled a little before letting go, the supple boob bounces back to form with hypnotic movements. My action drew a loud gasp, and her upper body stumbles down a little before she catches herself.

With my heartfelt goodbye done. I move to the left one who eagerly waited for me on top of the sweaty milky mountain, but before that, I remember something I wanted to test, to know the intensity that she liked it.

I nuzzle the nipple with my nose, before opening my mouth to grab the flesh from the place immediately beneath it. She noticed my action.

"…G-go easy now Ely… just a l-little... Mn… yeah, like that… Ah, y-you can do it more strongly if you want to… Hm…" I followed her instruction to the letter, "aH! T-that its… such… ah, such a smart boy."

Now, with the limits established, I begin to savor her. Bringing more of lovely her symphony to the room; I enjoyed her breasts thoroughly, leaving no part left untouched, attacking mercilessly any pleasure spot I could find, somewhere in the process I remember that I still have hands and leave no side negligence ever since. My playing was causing her to steadily lose strength, making her body fall more and more toward me, which only served to give me easier access.

I honestly don't know how much time passed.

I was doing my best to suck the two tips at the same time, and using my hand the play with a spot on the side while pushing them together. When I heard something that sounded like a 'stop.'

I, immediately, let go.

Mother's movements were stiff as she straightened herself. Her body coming in full view; if she looked beautiful before, she looks gorgeous now; on her entire body her muscles coiled and twitched involuntarily, the dripping layer of sweat made it stand out more against the light, her full hip quivered with barely suppressed arousal, her breast looked even bigger; having swell and redden by my ministration, a few tiny bite marks stood out on her skin in particular, one hand had pressed softly against my chest, the other stayed firmly on the headboard trying to keep her balance. Her head hanging a little to the side, her face…

"T-that was g-good sweetie, _very good,_ b-but mommy needs a little rest now ok, we can continue it later," she managed to let out.

… A bright blush lighting up her cheeks and nose, a parted mouth panting heavily, shining well-formed lips let out puffs of warm air, white hair cascading down her curved back, her eyes… big ruby eyes were boiling with a mix of lust and love, and showing a serious battle within.

She wants to continue… that was clear to me… but why did she stopped me then?

Her shadow answered.

Oh…

I move my eyes down for a brief moment, immediately noticing her 'problem.'

Her tiny panty was ruined, the moisture made the white fabric completed see-through, hugging clearly the contours of her plump outer lips pressed tightly together, the bigger the average clit was standing proudly between them. The entire area was absolutely soaked

She was about to cum…

And she didn't watch to show her son such a 'shameful' sight.

… That's ludicrous; this is what I want to see the most.

My body is surprisingly strong for my age. She let out a quiet 'eep' as I tacked her to the bed. I quickly moved to sit on her lower ribs just under her breast, my small bulge rubbed against them, my hand goes to tease her nipples, and I looked her deep in the eyes, which still held shock by my move.

"Please mother, let's continued I _need_ this," I begged. _"Please!"_

I really _need_ more, more sounds, more touch, more tastes, more of her.

…But most important I need her permission first.

Her inner turmoil lasted a single second after that; her eyes lift up with pure delight. Then, it was taken by a lusty playfulness.

One hand goes to her cheek, another to rest on the top of the breast.

"Ara What a demanding son I have," she sighed exaggeratedly, "I suppose, there is only one thing to do now," She pressed her breasts with her elbows for a second, making them jiggle beautifully, "Here sweetie, they all yours. Do whatever you want with them."

I didn't need any more incentive, and she didn't even try to hold back the moans anymore.

Soon after, she reached her climax… it would not be the last.

-0-0-0-

She has night terrors.

…

After our 'Bonding moment,' we changed the sheets and cleaned ourselves, mother didn't even bother with clothes by that point and managed to annoy me enough to make me discard mine too, "for maximum mother-son skinship" she said. After that, we went to bed; it must have been just an hour for the first morning lights to appear, not that we cared of course.

This was the first time that we slept together, so it was normal for her to try and stay awake for as long as possible, and we were still riding in the bliss of our early bonding, nothing drastically were initiated, but our touches were a lot more intimate than before.

Well, we already crossed some lines, is only downhill from here, I guess…

After we played around for a while and I got her to stop insisting that I use her nipple as a pacifier, which would have escalated no matter so 'cute' I'd looked. I finally fell 'asleep,' which for me is just my body resting while my mind falls into the shadows.

For once I didn't try to train, today was too chill for that, so I stay content to lazily lurker around the room and watch mother watching my body sleep with a crazy fixation.

Then, she fell asleep. And the terrors started.

…She didn't move, that was the worst thing, it would be better if she screamed or trashed, but she just laid there in an unnerving stillness, skin deadly pale, eyes frantically moving beneath the eyelid, cold sweating.

It was so bad that her shadow cut our connection, fearing I would try to pull anything from it.

Of course, I shook her awake.

When her eyes _finally_ opened, the deep terror stayed there for a moment before she focused on me. The relief she showed after was telling.

"W-what…what it, sweetie?" She asks innocently, a motherly mask trying hiding her still recovering state.

"…You were having a nightmare."

"Oh, Ely that normal, everyone has a nightmare sometimes," she tries to brush under the rug.

"It was a bad nightmare," She still trying to put up a front, but it still too raw, she opens her mouth say something, but I interrupt her with more important matters.

"Do you need a hug?"

She lasts a second, before breaking down.

…

I held my mother for hours as she cried and screamed against my chest, begging for me not to die or leave her at first, then apologizing for being such a wreck of a woman after, and then begging for forgiveness for being a lousy mother that need me far too much, by the end.

I assured her that she was nothing sort of a perfect mother, and I would never leave her. _**Ever.**_

She let out a lot in that hour and by the end, felt lighter for it.

I was cleaning her sleeping face when the Terrors threaten to begin again, but this time I was ready.

Our shadows were connected so deep that they fused together. I pour sweet darkness into her mind, blackening the visions projected by the dreams, engulfing her in a pitch black void, filled with nothing but the weird sounds of moving Shadows, ensuring that she would have a dreamless night. For anyone else that experience would quickly lead to madness, for a Dantalion, it felt like home.

Her body relaxed like I never saw before, a quiet moan of pleasure escape her throat, and she leans more into my hand where I was playing with her hair.

I wonder how many years has been since she relaxed like that…

I began to pull my shadow away when I noticed something.

Our shadow still fused…

It wasn't surprising that they would be able to connect on this deeper level, considering how close we are, but they being like that present an opportunity. Something that her shadow never allowed because it could bring me pain.

 _I could find out what happened to her._

It would be wise to considering the situation better before diving in head first, but I tried to do that for so long, and now it was here so close, partially on a silver platter.

I want to know _now!_

…

I concentrated, focusing on the fused shadow. It was too mixed to hold traces of a particular person, meaning that it wouldn't react violently to the instruction, and it'd fulfill the objective without delay.

Carefully, I began pulling…

And the memories of my mother began to come.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

* * *

 _[Flashback start]_

I… I can't go on…

"Stand up," A cold voice echoed across the field. "This can't be all you got."

The instructor moved her arm in a lazy swig, making the shadow whip hit the ground near me, the impact was enough to cause a small explosion, the blast sends me rolling.

I managed to control the roll enough to stop before reaching the edge of the stone field. Then, I try to stand once again.

My arms struggle to support my weight, my legs aren't responding well, I could see the drops of sweat hitting the stone beneath, each breach burned my lungs I…I…

I fell once again, my body unresponsive to all but the smallish movements. Soon the sound of metal meeting stone got closer, and the pristine heels with silver soles entered my vision.

"Pathetic…" The instructor's cold red eyes look down at me with pure disdain. "Already eleven year old, and not even capable of making a Partial Projection. Yet you still dare call yourself a woman from the Dantalion's house."

"I-I'm sorry ma'am, I-I will do better."

"…Can you stand?"

"No ma'am, my body won't listen to me."

The instructor kept glaring for long seconds, before letting out a sigh. Using a hand to throw a strand of her drill shape white hair to her back, she got to one knee and pulled my body to lean on her pillowed chest as she inspects my wounds.

"...What am I going to do with you Araneya?" The warm in her voice indicated that she had become my mother again. "You have to be better my child; you can't afford not to."

"I know, Mama, this just… its so hard" I will _Not_ cry, Elly told me that I'm a big girl now, and big girls don't cry!

"Oh sweetie, I know…" she rests her chin on top of my head, "But we live in a vicious world and if we don't learn to defend ourselves… it could eat us."

The white magic circle shines on the back of her hand, and my wounds begin to heal.

"Especially for you, who was born in this Family, it makes you look even more appetizing… in fact…" her eyes gained a trickster light. "Maybe I should get a taste right _nooww~"_

What? AHH!

"NO Mam-, Stop! Ah! Stop trying to eat meee." I can move now, but my limbs still felt very heavy, it wasn't enough to stop mama from grabbing my cheek with her mouth.

"Urrggh. It feels weirddd!"

"Kukuku, Your reactions still the best!"

 _[-0-0-0-]_

Mama told me that I should fight my own battles; she said to always put a respectable front in face of my enemies, to not let them treat me as an inferior. Brother told me that I should make allies out of my enemies so that we can direct our combine power to a worst threat.

I always strive to adopt their wisdom…

But, when it comes to Silvana Purson, I…

"Ehhh, still no reaction huh? Did the Dantalion's White Terror gave birth to a mute?" The Purson's heiress let you a cruel laugher, "Or perhaps, you're just too stupid to talk."

The ladies who were accompanying her began to snigger and giggle, talking among themselves loud enough for me to hear.

" _Ew, look at her all wet like that, is she really one of the pillar?"_

" _Hahaha, she is so weak! Not even rise to defend her honor."_

" _I hear she is barely capable of using her Clan's ability, is it all right for her to be here?"_

My bother once told me that one of the ways that the pillar's heirs interacted among themselves was by offending each other. That one of the best ways to test the prowess of a fellow devil is by challenging their honor. That many of his alliances started like that. The important thing is to not show weakness.

Yet, against Silvana Purson, all my posture fades away. My hand and knees keep shaking no matter how much I try to stop them, my heart keeps beating loudly in my chest, and fear and anger keep rolling in my stomach. I want to go home…

But I _must_ say something… my family's honor is on the line.

"…I-I-I'm. I-I m-mean." The words kept getting trapped in my throat; the tea that was thrown in my face began to enter my eyes. I quickly moved to clean it.

"Ohh you gonna cry then, little baby." She takes a step toward me. The other girl's laughers became louder.

"N-no, I-I was J-ust-" My back hit the wall in my retreat.

"You're so pathetic, and to think we hold the same station," she wasn't laughing anymore, her eyes were full of scorn." Your presence spoils the ground of the Purson's estate. This is a place only for the mighty."

I couldn't keep my eyes on hers. They kept falling to ground between us. I didn't even want to come for this meeting, but mama insisted that I companied her.

"…And as if it weren't enough, you keep wearing these stupid things. What? Are you trying to look more adult or something!" she grabbed the collar of my dress.

Wait!

*Riiiip*

…

 _"Hyah!"_ I brought my arms to protect my modesty.

"…T-they're real," Silvana blurted. The other girls were quick to pick up on that.

" _Ewww. Look at those! So gross."_

" _HAHAHA, it looks so weird!"_

" _The Dantalions are wingless, right? Maybe the mass has gone elsewhere else."_

I-I could take this anymore, I want to run, but my legs don't move, my body begins to curl into itself- NO! I-I can't let it end like this, what would mother say!

It took everything I have to raise my eyes.

…Silvana wasn't laughing with them, she was looking at me with fixed eyes, her face was very red, and her breaths were coming quickly. O-oh dear, I must have enraged her.

"Well, this isn't something we see everyday…" A new voice interrupted us.

We all turned to look at the newcomer. He was wearing a sharp smoking suit made him look older than he actually is, his brilliant silver hair was perfectly groomed, a few strands left to purposely falls to his equally silver eyes, his features were noble, clearly from someone from a high noble family, but with a softness not usually seen in males to it. His voice was a bright and graceful melody.

"I always heard that the Purson's ladies held themselves with the perfect balance of elegance and cold viciousness," He sang, his voice filled with amusement. "Instead I found a barbaric simpleton about to be dominated by her urges."

His words left us all in shocked silence, but not for long

"W-WHAT! What did you just say your mongrel!?" Silvana shouted, her anger manifesting in her power; the wavy vermilion hair forming sharp blades around her head, her muscles coiling and bulging considerably, straining her dress. "Perhaps I should teach you a lesson for your insolence," Her voice came out distorted, much more monstrous than before.

"Perhaps you should, but… can you fight in your current state?" he asked curiously.

The actually give Silvana a pause, not enough to make her go back to her early form, but enough to not attack immediately.

"…And who are you to insult an heiress of the pillar so casually?" she asked with burning eyes, before ignoring her first question to ask another. _"Whose family are you from?"_

T-the way she said it…She intends to start a feud!

"The Lucifuge Family" there wasn't a trace of hesitation in his answer.

Silvana went silence, probably thinking carefully on the next course of action.

The Lucifuges are the closest vassal of the Bael Royal Family and are under its direct protection, they were not from the Pillar per se, but to cross them would be the same as to cross their lieges. And for the Purson's, who are trying to close their relationship with the Bael… she only have one option.

"HUH! I had enough with this childish game!" Her form went back to the previous one. "Let's go! We have better things to do, anyway." She commanded the other girls, before leaving with heavy steps.

They were quick to follow on her tail. Leaving me alone with the Lucifuge boy.

He smoothly takes out his coat offering it to me.

"Here, my Lady," he offered, looking politely to the side.

Eh? Why would… AHH!

I crouch down to the ground, trying to hide my shame in the best way I could. The humiliation burning in my chest made my face warm, and…and the sound of laughter?

"D-Don't laugh!"

"Haha…I sorry my Lady, that was unbecoming of me" I feel a warm coat falling on my shoulder, and a hand was offered. "Maybe we can start again."

I accented the hand; standing up once more, his touch was very warm… oh! I have to thank him.

"T-Thank you for your assistance my lord," His eyes light up with amusement for a moment, "I'm Araneya Dantalion, scion of the house Dantalion. You have my gratitude."

"It was my pleasure to help." He makes a formal bow. "I'm Grayfia Lucifuge, Heir of the House Lucifuge.

…

…

…Eh? Didn't the Lucifuge have an heiress?

 _[-0-0-0-]_

"You're a lot more dedicated lately." Mama said with a raised eyebrow, already out of her instructor persona, "Are you going to tell me the reason?"

I have to learn Full Projection…

"I have to get stronger!" I said, my face forming an unbreakable wall to hide the truth.

"PFF! HAhaha"

"W-What?" just what was that reaction?

"Oh! Ahaha…Oh, sweetie…that was the worst poker face that I ever saw." She cleaned some of the leftovers tears, finishing the last of the laughter, "You must never play cards your bother."

"Mooou…" It wasn't that bad- Wait! "And stop calling me that, I'm not a baby anymore!"

"Oh, I can see that, you're a beautiful young lady of fifteen, already drawing eyes wherever you go…" Mama nodded, trailing her eyes across my body.

That look is too lecherous, Mama…

"But you still didn't tell me why you are working so hard."

"…I want to learn how to make a Full Projection." I conceded, finally moving to stand from where I was laying on the ground.

"Why?"

I began to fidget under her glance.

"That's…hum…a secret?" I try to hide it… Please don't make me tell; it's so embracing.

"Ok"

…What!?

"What? Did you thought I was going to make you tell me?" She smiled softly, "Sweetie, you are already in the age to do your own things, and Hell's know I had my fair share of secrets when I was your age… besides, you can't be worse than your bother."

I was so happy at the moment that I didn't even correct her… Its… It's not that big of a secret anyway, but it is embarrassing to say it like that.

"All right, we will have to start next morning, maybe to focus on your shadow techniques for a while, we can tackle advanced spells later."

We will focus only on shadows!? That will help a lot!

"Thank you, Mama!" Maybe I would finally get it this time! I put my best determined-face on, "I will do my best, and even if my shadow is weak I promise I will get it right!"

Mama lost the smile; her eyes bore into my own with an uncharacteristic deepness… like she was searching for something.

" _Weak,_ huh… so you still can't see it," hum…what?

"W-what you talking about Mama?"

She sighed, shaking her head lightly, a small mysterious smile formed on her face.

"Oh, sweetie," She began, her voice small, almost whispering, her eyes looked almost sad, "If you manage to harness what's inside, you'd be the one they call 'Terror'…"

…I don't understand, what does she mean by th-AHHH!

"W-What are you doing Mama, put me down!" she easily put me over her shoulder, walking to the exit of the training grounds.

"No can do! You stink young lady, we will fix that problem with a long, thoughtful bath!" she inspected my sweaty body clad in the training garb.

"But I can bath for myself now!"

"Nonsense! It's been way too long since we had a proper mother-daughter skinship!" she was letting exciting puffs of air from her nose, a terrible smile begin to appear. Oh Dear!

"PAPA, ELLY HELP! MAMA'S TRYING TO MOLEST ME AGAIN!"

"Kukukukukuku"

 _[-0-0-0-]_

She was waiting for me at the door.

Standing on top of the curvy, twin stairways leading to Lucifuge's mansion, wearing a spectacular wavy blue coat, which was modified to fit her feminine curves, showing an enticing amount of cleave, just enough to draw attention but not enough to be inappropriate, and a skintight velvet pants that hugged her impressive legs. Big sister's form was one to inspire even the most thickheaded poets.

I suppressed the urge to jump out of the moving carriage. I must behave like a proper lady! Big Sister herself told me that, and Papa sometimes said things like this too.

When the carriage _finally_ stopped, I exit it with the proper amount of dignity, Big Sister has already descended the stairs, and was walking toward me.

"Lady Dantalion, I'd like to welcome you to Lucifuge's estate. I hope you find your staying here to be enjoyable." She makes a deep bow, beginning the little play we enact since the day we met.

"Thank you, 'Lord' Lucifuge, I'm sure you'll prove to be the most gracious host." I respond to the greeting with a bow of my own, my hands raising the tip of my shirt, my spine bending just a little more than necessary 'to give them a sight to behold' as Mama puts it.

Then I meet her in the eyes with _the look_ , barely containing my excitement.

She rolls her eyes and opens her arms.

"YAY!" I jumped into it immediately, letting a not-at-all appropriate laughter. Her amused chuckle was like music to my ears; she spun me for a couple of seconds before putting me down.

"It has been so long Big Sister Grayfia, I missed you so much," her arms still holding my waist, my own were on her shoulder.

She raised an eyebrow.

"You were here last week remember?" her amused voice, brought this realization.

"Oh!... Well, it felt longer,"

There was no reception waiting for me, but that was perfectly all right! I wasn't here on official business, or even as the Dantalion's daughter. Today I was a simple girl visiting her best friend/sister.

Oh! What should we do first? Should we have a walk around the gardens? Perhaps admiring the sword collection? Or maybe take a b-bath.

Big sister was looking to the side. Huh?

Why the coachman still here? Oh!

"Right! Big sister, I brought you a present!"

"Hooo…" she admired at the wooden box that the bowing servant was presenting her for a moment before opening it.

…

"…What?" she let out a breathless gasp, Hehehe, an unbalance Big Sister is so cute!

"Araneya… Is that…a shadow glass sculpture?" Big sister shocked expression made all the effort worth it.

The shadow glass technique is a failed prototype of the Full Materialization technique, which was an advanced form of Full Projection. The spell permanently 'materializes' a shadow projection into our world, making it a real object, not needing our energy to exist anymore. The shadow glass technique failed because it just materializes the surface of the shadow, trapping the rest inside in its pure form, the material has the fragility of glass.

However, the shadow trapped inside still a _Pure Shadow_ and the prison made it visible to the world. For a Dantalion that's nothing special as our eyes are made to see Pure Shadows, but it allowed other devils to watch it, and not only that, the shadow glass's surface dulled the vision enough to make _safe_ for them to watch it.

To a Dantalion, it was just a washed down Pure Shadow; for every other devil, it was the most mindboggling beautiful thing in the world.

"…I…Can't… Araneya, You could buy fully staffed _castles_ with this… It cost more than Phoenix Tears due to its sheer _rarity…_ " She kept commenting; her eyes fixed in the Black Rose, trailing over its form, watching singing void inside.

Weeell, mama did say that was quite difficult, and that very few of our Clan even managed to get it right, but it wasn't hard at all! It only took me around eight thousand attempts to get it right.

"Does you Mother k-"

"I'm the one who made it!" I chipped, not managing to contain the excitement.

"You _made_ this!"

She looked at the Rose and then back to me, then she opened her mouth, but I stopped her with a _look._

She was about to say something like _"I can't accept this, is too much!"_ and I would be like _"But I made it, and I want to give to you"_ , and none of us would make any progress after that, and by the end of my stay I would leave the Rose in her panty drawer. She realized that too.

Her mouth closed in a quiet clamp; she began to give me a warm look, taking my breath away in the process.

"You are really something special, you know."

…

…

 _BREATHE_ GIRL!

I came back to the Underworld as she was inspecting the Rose in her hands; finally, she sniffed the pedal even know it didn't have a smell.

…

This visage deserves a painting; Big Sister, standing there, hair softly blowing by the wind, her calm expression of serene beauty, as she takes in the odorless rose.

…O-oh dear, I believe I'm dying, my head feels too hot, my palms too cold, my heart didn't want to slow down, and my stomach keeps twisting...

"Araneya…"

"Y-Yes, Big sister." How could I still talk with no air inside?

She slowly opened her eyes, crystalline silver meeting my red, which seen dull by comparison. Her enticing lips shaping into a pretty smile.

"You forgot the thorns."

…

"EHHH!?"

 _[-0-0-0-]_

"You can come in if you want to, Araneya." Mama's steel voice could be heard clearly, even through Papa angry shouts.

Busted…

I stop pretending to admire one of the Castle's illusionary windows and turned to open the door of the Family's meeting room.

Mama was sitting in the big elaborated chair, with an elbow at the table, resting her head on her first. She looked tense, displaying none of the usual playful demeanor. He eyes were close in contemplation, I could hear the big buffs of air she was letting out in an attempt to calm herself.

Brother was sitting on Mama's left, he looked calm and patient, a perfect example of serenity, which was a terrible sign considering his usual flamboyant behavior.

Papa was pacing at some distance from them, his heavy steps hitting the floor almost to the point of breaking it, he was continually shouting about "Traitors" or "Cowards."

"I'm sorry, I know shouldn't be listening, but Papa was shouting so loud-"

"Quit the formalities!" Mama snapped, her own barely contained anger making the words harsher than it should be, "You have all the rights to sit at this table if you wish so."

"Mother, are you sure this is alright…" Brother Ellyon began, looking at me with concern.

"I'm a Dantalion's woman of almost seventeen, Brother!" his concern is appreciated, but I'm not a child anymore. "I can handle any bad news that may come, especially if it affects our family."

Mama grumped an affirmative, and Brother conceded with a small bow of his head. In the next second his shadow calmly brings a comfortable chair near me…Hum?

"As of today, the Underworld is entering a state of civil war."

…Oh, that's why…

I stayed sitting for a moment, organizing my thoughts, before finding my words again.

"What happened?"

Bother Ellyon sighed.

"Are you familiar with the Panteros incident?"

I struggled to remember the lessons; the Panteros incident was an armed conflict that happened inside Gremory's lands, it happened before I was born, just after the descendants of the old Satan's gained prominence in the Pillar council, when we began to prepare for the restart of the Great War seriously. A group of devils rose up and took the Panteros fort in a protest against the war, but the Gremory forces quickly destroyed them. It was said that lord Zeoticus was so angry that he led the charge himself.

"Yes, it was an attempted rebellion, but the Gremory destroyed them… Right?"

"Well, apparently the rose from the dead, showing up better armed, better trained and with the official support of _nineteen_ Pillars families and all their Vassals, including the Gremory. Their formal declaration of rebellion came in this morning."

Mama lets out a deep growl at that.

I…I couldn't believe it.

"But...But that means."

I didn't even see Mama's fist connect to the table, just my Brother's shadow as it quickly forming a shield, protecting me from the flying pieces.

"That means the _rats_ were hiding them all this time!" then, she turned the furious look to Papa, who was still shouting. "SHUT UP, REYMOND!"

Papa went quiet in an isntant, before grumping nosily; he picked up a fallen chair and sat at my side.

As Mama tried to calm her breaths, Brother continues.

"Right… as thing are right now, the rest of the Pillars were too agitated to try open negotiations," His shadow slowly lifted the broken table, filling the missing spot with its form, the result was an elaborate crack web of black and dark brown. "That means open conflict is inevitable… Their win condition is to gain the support of more pillars. If they could convince more than half of the Families to join their cause-" Papa snorted at that. "They could force the rest to open negotiation. Otherwise, they could try to fight the combined forces of the rest of the Pillars-"

"HAH!" Papa exclaimed, vicious laughter escaping his throat, "Hardly, nineteen houses against fifty-three, they will be annihilated!" brother sent him an ugly look for being interrupted again.

"…Yes" he started again, "that would be our win condition; even if we could resolve things peacefully, they must be punished for even attempting this in the first place," he gulps a little at the last part, which was mostly directed to Mama. "In all cases, the loss of personal and supplies will be significant… meaning that the start of the Great War will be delayed until we recover."

The room has fallen into a tense silence after his word; we were all looking at Mama, ready for her reaction… After a few seconds, she leaned back in the chair, bringing a hand over her eyes and appears to be mulling the information.

We all sigh in relief.

…I couldn't help but ask.

"Brother…why are they doing this?"

Papa snorted a _"Because they're coward"_ at my side, but brother answered quickly.

"They say is to preserve the well being of Devilkind as a whole," He sighed tiredly, passing a hand through his hair, "Something about 'the great war will bring about our extinction' or something."

But…But _how!?_ They say that they're trying to preserve Devilkind but at the same time are preventing us from eliminating the fallen threat, and the angelic abominations… How could we truly be safe if they still exist!? That. That just…

"That doesn't make any sense!" it escapes, a bit louder than necessary.

"No" Mama hoarse voice echoed through the now silent room. She slowly stood from the chair. "No, it doesn't…"

"… I always held Zeoticus Gremory in high regards; as a Devil, as a commander, and as a rival, but when faced with the beginning of our righteous crusade, he chose to hold on to this false illusion of peace," her voice was the harshest I had ever heard, her shadow quakes in response to her anger. "Then, I shall be the one to show him the truth of the world."

"As of this moment, House Dantalion declarer _WAR_ on any twisted soul that support this little rebellion! Any objections?"

"Nay!" Our agreement was unanimous.

…And so House Dantalion joined the civil war.

 _[-0-0-0-]_

A sweet, cloudy aroma filled the air, making difficult for my mind to focus properly, the garments gripped tightly on my body, making it hard to breathe, and my body begins to ache from the shameful position… But I mustn't move, Big Sister ordered me so.

I could feel her hand lightly holding my cheek, the thumb caressing my cheekbone while the other fingers keep my head in place. A thin brush moves along my parted lips, my tip tongue unconsciously rises to relish in the strawberry taste, but it was pushed back by the brush, the action drew a melodic chuckle, the sound makes my heart flutter.

"There… Perfect…" With the last flicker, Big Sister finally pulled the blindfold, allowing me to see for the first time since she began preparing me. "What do you think?"

Woah! Big Sister Grayfia looks so good in leather. The black corselet hugged her form, accentuating her breasts, which were squeezed by the outfit on the underside, stopping just above her nipples, her shoulders were left completely bare, her arms were covered by a pair of long leather gloves connected by a ring in her middle finger, leaving the hands partially uncovered, her long legs were hugged by shinning black stocking, her bottom was covered but a leather thong, only a small triage keeps her sex from my view, her face w-

*Slap*

"OH!" It took all my willpower to stay in the same position; the movement of my breasts almost took always my balance. The wonderful pain threw waves of pleasure all across my body; the area of the slap began to tingle deliciously, rapidly forming a red mark on my left breast. "Ah…ah…" I rode on the last remains of the feeling, doing my best to center myself, luckily her voice helped.

"You are getting distracted again, pet." She put on hand on the side of her hip, bending forward a little, showing me her deep cleavage. "Do you want to be disciplined once more?"

"No, mistress…Mn… I sorry mistress."

She caught my lie without effort. Her lips formed a smile; it looked almost predatorily in its current blood red color, and hand lazily rubs the new mark, bringing a little shiver to me in the process, she slid one of her fingers to the underside the bosom, pushing up slightly.

"…They still impress me, you know, I think they are already bigger than your mother's," she like them! Yay! Good work boobs. "I guess is true what they say about the Dantalion's girls."

Hum?

"Hoh, You don't know my sweet pet? What the Underworld says behind your back, while admires your rear…" she moves to my nipple, drawing soft circles with her finger, "The fattest tits of the underworld they say, the most beautiful pair in each generation."

O-oh, but that's…

"You look confused pet, do you have something to say?" she is pinching now. Making impossible not to moan.

"I-I… _Ah!..._ A-always though… that M- mistress's was the most beautiful."

She lost her composure for a moment but was quick to regain it. Hehehe, I saw your blush Big sister~

"Hooh, what a flatterer pet I have… but now we both got distracted" she grips my chin firmly before directing my head. "Now, tell me, what do you think?"

Right in front of me, there was a big mirror-Oh!

A-as expected of Big Sister Grayfia. Her work is marvelous.

My hair is rolled in an elegant braided bun (Perfect for grabbing!), one brand falling stylishly over my left eye. My face spotted a light makeup, accentuating my eyes; making my lips shining and pink, looking plumper than before.

A full velvet choker has around my neck, with heart-shaped silver jewelry displayed on the front like it was a lock. My hands were bound together on my back, the long white gloves covered my entire arms, my own pink corselet beginning just below my belly button and going up to my lower rip, emphasizing the heavy breast that spilled on top of it, two vertical lines connected the garment to the white stocking that hugged my legs, which were curled in a kneeling position and spread as far as they could go. My womanhood was shaved clean, as always, (Big Sister's Favorite!) and left utterly bare to the world.

T-that… I… I-I looked so _lewd_ … Oh my! Am I _dripping!?_... That… Oh… W-what would my Family would say if they see me now… what would Mama say…

The thought of my Mama seeming me like this brought a strange feeling to my belly, I properly bury it the best I could, but Big sister noticed.

"Hooh, looks like you liked a lot…" she moved closer to me, "Tell me, what are you thinking right now?"

O-Oh dear if I answered that, I don't know how she would react…

"Tell me…Pet." Big Sister, bring a leg between my own-OH!

T-That's no good… Smooch warm leather rubbing against my pusOOooh!

B-big sister's leg… covered by black leather…Hh! … The candlelight dancing on the surface…

"I-I was thinking…huff, huff…how-oh! … My…My family would react…ah, ah! … I-If they see my now…"

My eyes trailed upward…T-To the triangle hiding her most important place… It smells so good…

"Ehhh? So you like these kinds of thing hã, that's good to know." She must have noticed my attention because she began to bring it close. "Very Good" I could see a small puff of silver hair escaping the crouch edge, Big Sister had just come home from a long campaign, maybe she hadn't had the time to take care of it yet, I w-wonder what it tastes like. "Perhaps I should put you in a mask and a leash and display you to the entire Lucifuge's mansion so that they could admire the heiress's pet."

My flower clenches at the suggestion-Oh My! I… I'm not going to last much longer. "Or leave the mask altogether, so everyone can see who _owns_ the Dantalion's Gem." She pauses her approach- What! Nooo… The rubbing also stopped. "What do you think of that, pet?"

Her last few words finally reach me. Drawing a new wave of shivers.

"Nooooo…" Yesss…

"Your body is more honest than you, pet" she chuckled, drawing herself back. "But… I prepared something different today, a present, you could say. So we will try this idea another time." She put one finger under my chin, and brings my eyes to hers, "Now, be a good pet and don't look, ok?"

"Yesss… Mistresss," I'm a good pet!

Then, she goes to someplace behind me, outside the mirrors range…

…Look at this girl… a sweaty, dripping mess… so close to climax… obeying a mistress like a puppy… she wasn't a Lady from the Dantalion's house…no… she was a whore…a slut… look how she smiles… _Big Sister's Slut~_

Big sister Grayfia, appeared once again, coming in front of the mirror admiring herself and showing me the 'present.'

"Soo, what to do you think?"

She didn't look different, still, the same alluring outfit that drew attention to her form and-Oh!

…A-Attached to her crotch…Oh dear!... I-it's so big…

"Did you like it?"

O-oh my

"B-But Big-Mistress… I-I never had a-anything in…" it was difficult to focus, my patting kept getting faster, fear and anticipation growing on my breast.

"Oh, I know that my beautiful pet." Her smile is sweet and innocent. "But you are a good pet, aren't you?" She began to walk towards me, her ample hip swaying elegantly with each step, the thing bounced with the rhythm, "You will take care of you poor mistress who just got back from fighting in a silly war, right?" Her eyes shone with a dangerous light.

…Ah... I get it…Big Sister wants to eat me…

I-If is B-Big Sister then I guess… b-but…

"W-Will… Will it fit?" For some reason my question made Big Sister smile even more, the next moment, she was kneeling in front of me, her face so close; her heavy breaths were touching my skin, t-the thing was pressed against my stomach, it was enchanted to be warm, but it felt almost like it was burning.

"My dear sweet pet…" her lips come to savor my own, I almost fell out of position, I must stay in position! "You know you can trust me, right?" her tongue trailed my lips slowly; my mouth opened and my head moved up to give her better access, "I know how to take care of you…" My tongue moves to meet her, she responded with the lightest touches, Her hand going down to-OoooowW! "Who is better to take both your virginities, than me?"

"Y-yees, mistress" she chuckled again slowly moving to stand.

Yes… Big sister will take of me…

…Wait… _both?_

The black tip of the toy touches my lips, i-it looked so thick up close.

"Now open that pretty mouth of yours pet, believe me, you'll want this to be properly lubricated very soon…"

 _[-0-0-0-]_

It was beautiful.

A ball of pure Darkness, barely bigger than my hand; it lay on top of a circular altar at the center of the circular room, the smooch Shadow Glass surface shone with the blue light of the eternal candles around it. On the inside, it showed a complex eternity woven into a massive spell frame whose details has long been forgotten.

The Shadow's heart, The Black Pearl, The Pathway Into Darkness… and many others names…

We just called the "The Core".

I was standing inside the old magic circle craved on the floor, my right hand touching the artifact lightly, and my demonic energy pouring. The Shadow Glass easily recognized the Dantalion's energy, and accepts eagerly, using it to power the old Magic.

Just like it did to every Dantalion before me, every time, once a month…

There must always be a Dantalion in the Shadow Castle, that's the reason why.

"Ara Ara, there you are." My Brothers voice danced throughout the room, "Doing the old duties I see."

…

"Elly… What are you doing out of bed?" I asked, failing to keep the annoyance out of my tone.

"OH! My little sister worries are so cute!" he spined in place, twisting his waist, curling one leg, spreading the other, raising his arms in an award position, doing one of his iconic 'poses', before speaking with his face hidden by a spread hand. "This little wound isn't going to slow do the great Ellyon Dan-URGH!"

"…Stupid brother" I sighed, watching him hold his belly with a painful expression, "You're hurt, go back to bed."

"But it so borringg there." He straightens himself, cleaning the trail of blood that escaped his mouth. "I much rather see what my little sister is doing."

"Well, Your little sister is busy keeping everybody here safe" I buffed, "Go annoy somebody else then if you insist on aggravating your wounds."

"Kokoko, so cruel dear sister!" He began walking around the room poking the priceless artifacts on his way. "You're becoming really proficient with this thing…" He said, watching the core, "I could never make sense of it, just throw energy at it and hope something stick… but you don't have a single waste."

"That's because I'm the one that does this the most." I may or may not swelled with the praise, "Not like you like you who goes around been ambushed by rebels," I teased

"It wasn't the Rebels…" his voice suddenly became serious.

"What?"

"It was the Fallen"

A cold, ugly feeling began to rise in my chest; the Fallen are moving, that means…

"Oh don't be like that sister, it was inevitable that the other factions would capitalize on or weakness, a few skirmishes already began." He was inspecting an artifact with empty eyes, mind lost in another place.

I…I…if only…if only thosen _animals_ hadn't tried to run from the righteous war…the Devils would be strong…strong enough to eliminate the _real enemy_ … but… but… now.

"It's going to be fine." Elly's voice cut through my dark thoughts, he was closer now, at the edge of the magical circle. "Our kind passed through difficult periods before, this is just one more. We will not break sister, we will persist through this and gather our strength once again, and we will do so until the true enemy is defeated." He reassured me. "I promise you, one today, our kind will live freely, without having to look behind our shoulder. We will take our place as the rules of reality."

…I don't usually like serious Elly, but I admit, he did look kind of cool right now.

"Thank you, Elly." I said softly before dropping back to the playfulness. "Still don't change the fact that you were caught with your pants down like an amateur."

"Ohhh, Sister! Your word cut deeper than my wounds!" he fell theatrically to the floor, making sure to do a 'pose' while at it.

I focused back on my work…

"…It looks so tiny." Elly commented, looking at the core, "And to think it's our biggest defense."

The Core was the most crucial part of the castle; it's intricate spellwork kept the entire place hidden in the shadows, away from the eyes of enemies. The Shadow Castle was considered the only genuinely impenetrable castle of the Underworld because no army could ever reach it. And not only that, it connects the entrance to every shadow within the Dantalion's region, meaning that anyone from the family could enter it from any shadow cast in our land.

It was our greatest treasure, left from the very first Dantalion.

"I think is beautiful…"

 _[-0-0-0-]_

Hmmm _so good!_

The soft bed felt divine against my sweaty skin as I slowly spread my body across the bed, resting my tired limbs after another session of passion. My rear still ached lovely from the early ministrations, but my rosebud already closed to its proper place, Big Sister said I have amazing muscles there…Hehehe Big Sissterr~

I turned my head to look in her direction, the broad smile still locked on my face.

She was sitting on her chair, facing away from me. Naked like the day she was born, her small movements allowed me to see the side of her beautiful boobs; her back was covered with rapidly healing scratches (ops, hehehe), a red bite mark stood out in the skin of her taut ass… Hehehe it was so tasty!

In her hand, was a simple letter, the paper made a high-quality scroll, her fingers were slowly caressing the sentences…

Moooou...

It was probably about the Civil War again; she was receiving a lot of these lately, it was taking its toll on her. She was a lot more distracted than before, probably thinking in the companions that she lost, and sometimes she got this far away distant look, with her face bright red from the indignation for the meanness conflict.

That no good! I'm supposed to take her mind out of these things.

"Big sister~ Come to bed, is getting cold in here alone," I moved my body coyly, positioned myself the way she liked the most, sending her the look… She didn't even notice me.

Moooou…

"…It this about the war?" I couldn't help but ask.

She reacted when she heard my question about the letter's content.

"Hum! Oh…Yes, it's, it's… about the war." She dips her eyes a little, a small smile forming on her lips.

Oh!

"Is it going that well?" That great news!

"Hm…Yes! Yes, it is." Big Sister looked warm; she smiles growing.

Woah for Big Sister to be reacting like that. That's good- No, that's great! The rebel must be finally falling.

"Anything you could tell me!?"

"Maybe…I don't know… you did make a point not to get involved in this war after all" she looked at me amusedly, "Even if you're a Dantalion."

"Common on Pease! I want to know!" I hadn't seen Mama in _months!_ Maybe she would come home.

"Humm… I guess a could tell you something…" she began, her attention back to the letter. "I am going to be dispatched to the Novaros Falls for an operation there…actually, I'll be meeting your Bother."

"Oh, you will work together then- Wait!" suddenly a wonderful realization fell to me.

"That's inside Dantalion's borders!" I say excitedly. "You could visit me!"

"Well, I could do that… If I were able to get in the Shadow Castle anyway." she closes the letter softly, careful putting it away.

"But you can!"

Big Sister Grayfia rapidly snapped her head to my direction…Hooh So _that_ got her attention, hehehe.

"…What do you mean, Araneya?" Ohh s-such an intense look, and the way she said my name too!

"T-There's a way for you to enter the castle. We use it to bring the servants in, is a talisman that allows anyone to enter the castle through any shadow in the region. It can only be used once, so we give them new ones at the end of each day…or we used too…but the war happens and we limited the numbers of people… BUT! I became really good at working with The Core so I should be able to make it!"

"The Core?" she asks with a small voice and wide eyes. Hehehe, she shocked.

"Oh, it an old artifact that keeps the Castle hidden in the shadow, don't worry about it."

A smile slowly made its way to her face; just like my own…We must be thinking the same thing! After a long day of fighting traitors, sighing to herself missing me; she just need to slip into a shadow in her tent at night, and jump to my waiting arms, where I would massage her tired muscles, gradually becoming more and more daring, until she couldn't wait anymore push me to the bed and… _Oh, Big Sister~_

"So, what do you need to make this talisman, my sweet Araneya?" Hehehe. She has a _hungry_ look.

 _[-0-0-0-]_

The walls are burning.

Powerful, vicious magical flames spread across the once untouched castle. On the land, the outnumbered guard force tried desperately to keep the invaders out, but some have already slipped in, wreaking havoc on the inside; breaking and burning the priceless artifacts, stealing anything of valor, and killing everyone present.

For the first time since its construction, the Dantalion's castle graced the outside world and paid the price for it.

I felt all that happening at a distance, running through the forest in the opposite direction, being escorted by one guard as he does his best to uphold his squad final mission, after being the only one left when his comrades give their lives one by one to buy us time.

How could that happen?

Deep inside I know the answer, someone shattered The Core, and by the timing of the attack, they were planning for it.

D-Deep breaths, remember what Mama said, keep calm and analyze the situation, Fear… and Fury… has its place.

Whoever did this must have got inside through an official Talisman. It's improbable that they could falsify one, as the framework, even if correctly copied, must be touched by a Dantalion's demonic energy for it to activate, that leaves; the production of an entirely new way of getting in… or the most probable alternative.

Betrayal…

Some servant could have broken it… no, that improbable as they wouldn't be able to enter the room, maybe they could have sold it to the rebels, or gave it, or were killed and the talisman was taken. We kept only the bare minimum staff since the war started, _to prevent a situation like this,_ just the most trusted stayed, so who could have done it?

"We're almost there milady. If we hit the post, we could ride to Novaros, reaching Lord Ellyon." he was talking to me but it was an attempt to quell his on nerves, even I could see that.

"Y-Yes, Please lead the way," I said, my voice coming meekly.

No… Not Like that, I have to show strength, but the fear gripping my chest, the indignation for what happened, the servants who stay behind to give me time to run. It was all too much.

"UGRH!" he suddenly lets out a grunt of pain.

"Oh dear!" I got closer to where he has fallen. "A-are you ok?"

His skin was growing cold, his breathing more frenetic. I immediately began to cast a diagnostic spell to see what was wrong.

A foreigner demonic energy was acting in his body, freezing it more and more from the inside out; the frost spell was of a magnitude that I never saw before, its complexity was comparable to some ancient spell, I…I… don't know what to do… Devil's magic wasn't made for healing, and the only healing spell that I know isn't strong enough to do anything about this.

"My…M-y…Lady…Run…" he said in his last breath,

I…I'm…alone…now, the caster was probably nearby, I have to run...but my legs aren't listening, why aren't they listening…I have to run _NOW._

I struggled to stand but was finally able to take the first steps. The snow against my feet felt heavy, even though it never did before, but I have to keep going…I…

"Araneya."

And just like that, she appears.

Clad in her Battledress, Silver Hair shining in an ethereal light against the moonlight, an impeccable figure stands on the crystalline snow, among the dark tree.

"I was looking for you Araneya."

I fell to my knees

"Oh…oh… Big Sister Grayfia…" Tears began to fall from my eyes. "I-Its all gone, T-they came so suddenly, everything was so confused and I…I…

A pair of arms wrapped around me "Shh…It's ok…Shh… It's over now," I let out all that I was holding back, crying and screaming against Big Sister's chest. All the fear, all the anger, and all the helpless I felt throughout this horrible night.

"Araneya… listen to me." He grabs my shoulder and pulls me out of her, "We can't stay here," she looks firmly into my eyes, "I will get you somewhere safe, but you _have_ to obey me, do you understand?"

"Y-Yes… _Sniff_ … I-I promise, I'll obey your every word, j-just take me away from here." I agreed immediately.

Soon, we were racing through the forest at blinding speeds; the trees became blurs in the background. Big sister moved with propose, I could feel her calm heartbeats in her chest, her arms holding me on my back and knees as we ran. My eyes were closed due to the biting wind hitting us… We were finally getting away.

It's over.

This…this… terrible ordeal.

Things weren't fine… My family just had their ancestral home sacked, there's maybe be a traitor among our ranks, my family took a massive hit to their pride, but I'm fine, Mama and Papa were fine, my Brother was fine, and Big Sister was here. We could rebuild after this, come up even stronger, and when my Bother hear what happened here, he will hunt down the responsible for this insolence.

I brought my head closer to Big Sister's chest, hearing her calming heartbeats… as expected of Big sister, keeping it cool even after all of this.

We quickly arrived at the guard post; the men were constantly moving, working to respond to the attack, maybe they're reinforcements? Big Sister put me down.

Now, we need to contant-

"Do not move… Araneya."

Hum? Why?

…Wait… these armors… that _banner._

T-They are Gremory's men.

The Rebels have taken the post!

"B-Big Sister! That's Bad; we have to-"

Then, I noticed the body…

To the side, there was a giant magically made wall of stone raises imposingly high; a mangled corpse was hanging on top of it, pierced there by innumerate ice spears, an obscenely amount of Blood trailed down from it… That was…

" _ELLYON!"_

I burst into movements to get to my brother. He looked bad, _really bad_ , but maybe there was _something_ I could do, _anything!_ I just have to-

On my third step, a steel grip clamps on my arm.

"LET ME GO! I HAVE TO HELP HIM!"

"You said you would obey me…"

Hum?

"Big Sister?"

"Do. Not. Move. Araneya." My Big Sister's eyes hard, her voice carrying a dark, commanding tone; she never talked to me this way before.

What?…I don't understand…

The nearby rebels that were watching the commotion began to snicker, throwing hurtful comments about me.

There had noticed us… my scream has drawn their attention, but they didn't move to apprehend us, they just… stood there… laughing and talking, like they were enjoying a show…

And Big Sister didn't move a muscle against them.

What?

"Big Sister…I-I don't…" An ugly feeling began to rise up in my chest. The tear began to gather. "W-what is…happening?" my voice came out small.

She just looked at me and shook her head, slowly.

…What?

I…Don't…

Tears began to fall. My breathing started to accelerate, but I didn't see to be getting enough air. My chest started to _hurt._

…Please.

Please…No…

Anybody…But…

"Hey guys, I'm back, sorry for the wait!" A cheerful voice called out from the Post.

Two men land on the rebel base, coming from the skies on the other side of the forest, the two looked somewhat worse for wear, their clothes and armor pieces were worn out, and the second man walked with a slight limp.

But the first man held my complete attention.

I know of him, I heard of him, a deep visceral fear began to form deep inside me. I watched as he walked around the post, receiving greeting and cheers from the Rebels, even with his clothes in that state, even with his posture meek and embarrassed by the compliments, his red hair and aquamarine eyes couldn't be mistaken.

One of the leaders of the Rebellion, one of the strongest Devils in this generation, the Heir to the Gremory Family.

The Crimson-Haired Destruction King.

Sirzechs Gremory.

"Maa Maa, sorry for the delay guys, that White Terror lady was everything that my father said she was and more!"

White Terror? B-But that's.

Then, I finally notice what he was carrying…

The severed head…

…

…

"So, you're the Dantalion's daughter…and I guess Head now, but no matter. It's so nice to finally meet you!"

…

"Grayfia talks a lot about you, you know."

What…

The sound and images returned to the world. He was close now, when did he get here? My head hurt, every breath I took burns, the tears don't stop falling, I… I want my Mama…

Mama…

"Ok, to Business them! Now, lady Dantalion I would like you to meet someone." The other man approached, limping behind him. " This is Gerhardt Lehndorff he is one of my cousins; his Family is a direct Branch of the Gremory themselves."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady." The second man answers in a deep tone.

"And I would like to be the first to congratulate you guys on your engagement together." The red-haired man claps animatedly.

Eh?

I… Don't…

…This is too much.

I…think I going to pass out.

…Mama…Papa…Elly…Big Sister…

Please hel-

A warm hand gently gripped my shoulder. I raised my head instinctively at the touch, managing to sees the Gremory's heir expression clearly even through the tears. He was looking at me with a deep feeling of affection, like I was a dear old friend that he hasn't seen in ages, his smile showed nothing but pure gratitude.

" _ **Thank you very much, for House Dantalion's support to our cause."**_

 _[Flashback end]_

…

I see.

I understand now.

Mother was still peacefully sleeping, a thin sheet covering her naked form; I was sitting beside her, one hand slowly caressing her hair, my own nakedness left unnoticed.

Quietly, I calmed my shadow.

In the forests around the Castle, the animals finally came out of their frozen state, the overwhelming presence of an inescapable predator leaving them; the rest of the day was spent with high alert, in case the presence came back, the few whose heart stopped by the feeling were left to rot on the ground.

In the garrison, the guards breathed a collective sigh of relief as the inexplicable foreboding feeling disappeared; more routes were established on that day, and more men will patrol them, all this carefulness due to the 'bad feeling' they felt.

In the Castle, things were silent, a profound silence that spread across the long hallways, the small background sound of life and movement disappeared entirely as the many maids that worked there, all lay unconscious on the floors, foaming at the mouths. They were the ones closest to the feeling of a Pure Shadow approaching reality; the eldritch terror knocked them down. They would wake up later with no memory of the incident. Luckily, the butler, who was the Lord of the house's queen, left early to accompany his master on his trip.

…

Gerhardt Dantalion will die…

This is not an empty threat; this is not a promise, this is a statement of fact.

He will die in two weeks; on the day he steps back into this castle. The 'plans' that I made to kill him with little repercussion were all long-term, too long. He needs to die now.

 _I want him_ _ **Dead**_ _now!_

I took a moment to calm my breathing, to think more calmly without being blinded by the fury,

…Technically speaking, I have even more reason to keep Gerhardt alive; not only my previous reasons still stand, but I know now that The Lehndorff is a Branch from Gremory, and _that's a big deal_. A Branch family usually happens when a member of the Pillar doesn't inherit the power of the house, like Sairaorg Bael in the canon. In that case, they were highly _'encouraged'_ to give up the family names and take another one, sometimes even killed because they refuse to, the new family will by a Branch, and its descendent may manifest the power of the Pillar in the future. The relationship between the Pillars and their branches are different in according to the Pillars. Some scorn them, others embrace them, and knowing the Gremory…

Another thing; is the relationship between Lucifer and Gerhardt. I don't know how close they are, Mother wasn't present for most of their interaction, but he has been to this Castles before, more them once really, but it makes sense if we go by the motion that he put Gerhardt there to control…

OH FUCK!

Gerhardt was there to control the Dantalion if he is a Gremory dog then… the Dantalion's were the Gremory's puppet. Then what about me? They must know about me, the new heir of the Dantalions, that 'technically' knows nothing about the relations between our Families, only that they are his Father is a close ally, if I were in their place, I would have begun the to indoctrinate-

Wait! The Books! The original Dantalion's Library was burned by the fires; all the books were new and… How many were censored for me to read?

…I wonder, how many families meet the same fate.

Killing Gerhardt now would undoubtedly attract the Germory's attention, and mostly likely Lucifer's.

And I couldn't afford that…

…

But that doesn't change anything…

I will kill Gerhardt.

I…I can't let him live… Not now… after seeing everything she's been through after _Centuries_ , I can't let him live.

And _They_ , They will also pay, but later… after I dealt with the piece of shit and the fallout that this will cause.

Who knows what will happen after Gerhardt's death, the Gremory will undoubtedly react, maybe try to marry Mother to another puppet, or engager me to Rias and put a regent on the house or something. Perhaps one of our House many enemies will come first, try to end or dominate the lineage while it has only two members. And Lucifer, Fuck I don't know how he will react, but we will probably meet.

I can probably deal with every political shit that they throw at us, I would have to reveal my cards, but I could do it. Now, Lucifer, he's a different story, I wasn't ready for Lucifer.

The only things I know about the guy is that he is the strongest Devil, had the power of destruction, and apparently could turn into destruction itself, but what else? The guy is a century's year-old war veteran who is considered the strongest of a race that uses imagination as a weapon; I refuse to believe that's all he had.

What are his tricks? His spells? His tactics? Would he be able to see that I'm not a normal devil child? See how much I was holding back. He probably would… hell, going by her memories, _Mother_ has noticed, she just didn't care

Or I could run.

Kill Gerhardt, grab Mother and hide in the deepest shadow we could find. Life on the run would be a hard one, but I didn't need any of the luxuries of this one, and I sure that I could do something for Mother… but to leave after the death of Gerhardt would be suspicious, They'd blame me…no, they probably would blame Mother, and would hunt us down.

I'm confident in my potential… I _will_ become the most powerful thing of this existence, but I need time to do so…

Maybe leave without killing Gerhardt… I really want to kill the bastard, but honestly, Mother is more important.

Mother…

She looked so peaceful now…

…She can't continue on like this…

I…I saw how she was before, during her _marriage_ , before I was born…She was the perfect example of a lady in every moment, an ideal _automaton_ , she had no hopes, no dreams, no initiative of her on. If she was left in a room she would stay in that room, always doing those things that she was supposed to be doing there; being drinking tea, reading a book, or having dinner, she would adapt to the room she was in, moving according to what she was instructed.

Then, I was born, and she began to _live_ again. Very slowing, but surely improving.

…Now, that I thought, maybe that why Gerhardt let her spend so much time with me, he didn't have to wait for the night to fuck her, but…but the bastard allowed her to spend time with me for as long as possible. Because I was _healing_ her, her very love for me is putting her back together, and The _**FUCKER LIKE TO BREAK HER AFTER!**_

For the first time in my life, my infinite willpower struggles to hold my shadow.

…Right…Don't think about it… deep breathes.

She…she can't stay like this…not this broken.

The future holds conflict, that's inevitable, and the way she is now, so depended… I can't stay with her all the time; I have to focus on growing my power… soon, I'll be challenging the world, and if she remains like that, she will be caught in the crossfire.

She has to at least function without me, or become able to defend herself.

I have to fix her…

…Fuck! I even don't know where to begin, how do you fix centuries of mental trauma and emotional scars?… Everything seems to be working fine till now. So, keep the course?

Fuck no man, there must be a better way to help her heal, or I could invent one.

Well, I will try that; at least it's a start.

I try to remember…ok, no, there is no 'try' with someone with perfect memory; I pulled all my knowledge about the magic of this world, the memories, the insights from the Essence, the little lessons from mother, the books I read, which may or may not be adulterated.

Hum? I remember one project that I had once, from when the memories were still showing, and I couldn't move that much, so I spent my days thinking about magic or digesting the Dream Memories.

It was a mental spell to plant a 'seed' in the mind of the individual, that seed could be anything; a suggestion, a feeling, an idea, and the seed would 'grow' inside the person, rooting themselves in their minds so that I could mind-control them. I did that before the Essence of the Archmage properly appeared, so there were some things wrong with it, and the way which I thought had to be polished a bit, but it was a cool idea, I could even use to help Mother if I manage perfectly it.

Ok, I have something. Now to brainstorm about the magic.

…

…Wait.

I…Did I forget about this project?

But…I have a perfect memory, how could I forget anything.

A _cold_ feeling spread through my spine, does that means I don't have a perfect memory? Is the Cyoa lying?!

Ok, calm down I have to think.

Memories are the ability to encode, store, retain and subsequently recall information and past experiences in the brain, to have a 'perfect memory' meaning that everything I experience will be stored in my mind in its most perfect form, if I try to recall it, it would come easily and with no deterioration.

I…I didn't forget about it, I could still recall it; I… just lost focus of it, makes sense I didn't focus on the past all times, I live in the present so my attention is there. I could lose focus on something, especially if I didn't use, it would stay in the back of my mind until I chose to recall it… Yeah that it… everything is fine… nothing to worry about…

 _What else did I lose focus of?_

I move to sit cross-legged, focusing on my mind in a meditation exercise that some tutor taught me, and open the floodgate.

Soon _, everything_ about my life came to me, starting from the present going to the day I was born…

…

What…

Why that fucks…

So… many projects.

So… many…plans

…Why I was acting like that?

I had a short life until now, it wasn't long before I was revising my baby years-WHAT!

WHAT THE FUCK!

OTHER ESSENCE! I HAVE ANOTHER ESSENCE! SINCE WHEN!?

I _immediately_ brought the Cyoa to the forefront of my mind. Reading the description.

…

…

Heh.

Hehehehehehehe.

This will fix everything!

I let out a small heartfelt laughter; this is it, this is the thing that will solve everything, I didn't even need to worry anymore, I just have to _bind_ father, and every one of my problems will be fixed, and I will live happily ever after with Mommy and a harem of beautiful waifus.

…

…

WHAT THAT FUCK AM I DOING?!

I HAD THIS ALL THIS TIME! WHY AREN'T I ABUSING THE FUCK OUT OF THIS!?

THIS IS LITERALLY THE STRONGEST ESSENCE I HAVE!

WHAT I BEEN Doing…

I…

I…

I've been chasing butterflies…

I've been reading storybooks…

I've been spending time with my mother…

I've been having fun…

…

…Pushing my problem away… Not focus on the bad things… focusing _too much_ on the fun thing… making impulsive decisions… Been easily distracted…

Why…

…Why I was acting like a child.

I…

"Sniff…"

I…

"Sniff…ah"

 _I let my mother be raped._

"ah..ah.. BuAAAAaaaaaaaAAa"

I'm not a child!

I'm Not!

I…I'm a grown ass adult in the body of a child!

I'm a self-insert!

I… not supposed to EVER be distracted. My Goals must be achieved in the fastest and most efficient way possible. Any obstacles must be easily surpassed. Nothing bad is supposed to EVER happen to the ones I love and if it happens, it just to show how awesome I'AM when I powered through them. The consequences of my actions are never supposed to bite me in the ass. I don't NEED to think things through; I'm a Self Insert!

I'M INFALLIBLE.

So, then why?

 _ **WHY!?**_

Why, Am I not like that?

"Oh, sweetie."

Slender arms moved to embrace me, bringing my crying, shivering form to soft, pillowed Breasts.

"I-Its alright, no need to cry now. Mommy's here."

-0-0-0-

"M-Maa, you really surprise me, sweetie. You didn't cry like that since you were a small baby."

I heard her talking from behind me, her voice still unsure; she had never seen me acting like that, she did her best to calm me down, but the worry didn't leave her, as I stayed silence like a petulant child after I stopped crying.

We were once again locked in an embrace with our shadow merged together. I could feel her warm naked body against my back, her huge breast laying to top my shoulders, my head comfortably set between them, her beautiful legs crossed around me, my hands resting on her thick thighs. She involved me almost completely.

Fuck, I'm so tiny…

Her nervous state was clearly showing as she kept trying to make small talks, trying to find out what wrong with her son, and not getting an answer; a heartbreaking underline of despair clouded her tone.

Fuck.

I.

…Enough with emo bullshit.

"…" I try to find my voice again after that fuckup roller-coaster, "I'm sorry Mother."

"Hum?" she blinked at my voice, "Oh! Sweetie, you have nothing to be sorry for, you've been nothing but a sweet little gentleman during the entire time, Mommy's so proud!" A happy smile spreads across her beautiful face, the sheer relief she felt made manifest in her voice.

…I don't deserve her. Fuck she dedicated her entire life to me, has done anything and everything for my safety, and what did I do? I forgot the single thing that would fix all our problem…I …I let her be-

"Mommy's Boobs aren't even hurt!"

 _What that fuck is this woman talking about?_

"Hehehe little Ely always made sure to put mommy's first. It was fantastic! You played with them so masterfully that is difficult to believe this was your first time. Even when you were dominated by the urges you made sure to ask permission first…Hehehe Mommy's heart went "Boom" it that moment!"

I…I can believe this.

"Err…" she shrunk under my deadpan look. "W-Why is Ely looking at Mommy like that. Mommy's innocent! I-I mean, I-it wasn't like she planned this, not at all. Mommy just notice that Ely looks at her boobs a lot, s-so she wore a little something to make them stand out, that's all… and she might have heard from that lewd maid Nastasia going on about how she might give herself to satisfied your urges when you got older…"

This woman…

"…"

"…"

She starts to wiggle under my gaze.

"AAHHH!" She burst, holding me by the shoulder pulling me to face her. "L-Listen sweetie, Mommy is here alright! Y-You don't need some Maid to satisfied your urges, you can always have Mommy! All the time! No matter when you ask! Mommy is always ready! ... I mean, is fine if you want to taste other women sometimes…Ely's so manly hehehe…B-But first, Mommy always comes ok?! J-just don't forget about Mommy!

…

I giggle once.

And then I burst out laughing.

To be fair, considering that it came from the future sexist thing alive, it was musical even to me, and contagious as fuck too. I hear Mother happy giggle halfway through. She is probably more confused than happy, but the sound she made calmed me down.

By the end, we were both sitting facing each other, we weren't embraced anymore, but still at arms reach, riding the last remains of the laughter.

Things… weren't okay, our problem didn't disappear, our enemies are still stupidly strong, the danger still fucking high, and my nature as a 'self-insert protagonist' didn't give me a highly efficient plan to erase all my problems. However, for the first time in my life, it felt like everything will be fine.

But I still have to rectify my many mistakes…

Beginning in the simplest one.

"Mother."

"Hum?" she looked at me, still cutesy cleaning the few tears of happiness that escaped.

"I love you."

...Never once I told her that.

Everything that was Araneya Dantalion stopped at that moment. Every movement, every expression, every mask, all that left is _the look_.

The same look she gave me after I was born, the one that captivates me so much.

More affection than Affection. More obsession than Obsession. More devotion than Devotion.

This Eldritch _Beyond Love_ of hers.

And then a warm, delicious, womanly form tacked me.

"AHHHHHHHHHH!" The shrill scream of pure happiness could probably be heard in the hallways.

"ELYYYY! OH ELY! MOMMY IS SO HAPPY!" She was babbling while rolling on the bed and crushing me with her tits.

"Let me _Go_ , woman! You will kill me like that!"

When she _finally_ stopped, she was holding me tight against the bed, but not exactly crushing. Her full body lay on top of me, making sure to have just enough support to not to let her whole weigh fall on me. She pressed her breasts against my torso, her face inches from my own, her hair falling around us, making an improvised curtain. She was looking at me with crazy fixed eyes and a shaky, maniac smile.

Yeeeah…she's not going to let me go for a while, isn't she?

But I have one last thing let to do…

Eventually, I managed to wiggle my arms out.

"Hey Mom, Can I try something?"

"Anything" She breathed hotly.

I pulled her into a kiss.

It was a simple thing, just meeting our lip, but I could feel the effects r that it brought her. Slowing, I pulled the fundamental power inside me, manifesting its effects on reality; she lets a long strangled moan against my lips as she felt the sensations.

A thin black line undulates into existence on her neck, like someone was passed an ink brush around it in an incomplete circle, leaving the front open. Between them, a small heart shape silhouette appeared.

Mother straightened herself. The tip of her fingers touching her lips, her eyes wide, and an adorable blush forming; I don't think she even noticed the new mark.

I stay lying. My eyes locked on her as she gradually devolved into a bouncy, bubbly mess, feeling an unbreakable bridge forming between our minds, thinking about what happened today.

I'm not a self-insert protagonist… I'm not an adult in the body of a child…

I'm Elias Dantalion, a four-year-old Devil, who was born with significant advantages and an unparalleled potential.

I can make mistakes… I can learn from them.

 _And never make them again._

…

…

…

…I should really do something about the unconscious maids though.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

* * *

 _From very early on, Areneya Dantalion had noticed that I was not exactly normal._

 _And she gave absolutely no fucks about that._

 _So, when I told her about my essences, she just nodded and began to gush about how powerful I was going to be, and that's it. No questions about where they came from, or about what else about me is different. Nothing. She just accepted what I said and moved on. If I had anything else to tell her I could do it when I was ready._

 _Yes, I told her about the essences. Really, who else could I trust more with this information?_

 _And she was more than happy to help me find out more about the Binder's essence._

 _Here are our findings till now:_

 _First and foremost, it created a bridge between my mind and the marked ones, making my end the dominant one. The primary functions of the bridge are establishing a telepathic link and transmitting one's position and condition, just like it said on the Cyoa. However, the bridge does not allow me to dive into the mind of the marked; it only works as a connection to send or pull information, or at least that is what we found._

 _We could 'send' our thoughts to each other, pull the other's location, and… We don't really know about the status thing. We needed more time for research._

 _But my end is definitely the dominant of the link: I could keep her from "pulling" anything from me or pull something forcefully from her. I could also choose whether to make it noticeable or not, and even make her forget about the existence of bridge, taking away her capability to send thoughts, and have a completely unnoticed access to her mind._

 _Playing around a little, I figured out how to pull recent memories or view them as she experiences them, though the only thing making it better then my shadow connection in that respect is that I could do it from any distance since I don't have to keep our shadows connected._

 _One crucial aspect we tested was the ability to impart 'weaker versions' of my essences to her. Right now my mother holds all of my essences. But I don't know how 'weak' they are compared to the original; I guess only time will tell._

… _Except for the Breeder's Essence, which I removed three days after I added… I actually have legit reasons for that, and it's not because she became a Walking Temptation and everyone in the Castle couldn't keep the eyes always from her… Shut up I'm not possessive!_

 _But yeah, not counting the fact that terrible things would happen if anyone found out that she had become super fertile, and her offspring would reach maturity in months… there was the fact that she had become more beautiful, and believe me, that is saying something._

 _During her time with the Essence her little imperfections had disappeared altogether, even if they were already the kind you only noticed when they were gone, and only because the person went from extraordinarily beautiful to 'Oh my god I can't take my eyes off you!' and no one can figure out what precisely has changed. Moreover, during that period she glowed with an aura of sheer desire, making every maid around have a sudden need to use the bathroom._

 _Without the Essence, the aura disappeared, but the change to her appearance stayed… Note to self: be careful with that aura when we reach sexual maturity, it must be used responsibly._

 _There was also another thing the Essence caused…_

I put down my pen throwing the notebook back to my shadow storage, before turning to finally look at her.

She has been trying to get my attention for the past ten minutes now…

"Ohh! They hurt so much. They are just so full," she moaned dramatically, slowly moving in provocative poses, pretending to watch herself in the mirror, while in reality, she was giving me a show.

For some reason the Essence caused her to lactate again… I blame porn logic.

"Mommy's back hurts sooo much. She can barely keep standing anymore, OH! What if they explode!?" She dramatically throws an arm over her forehead. Bending her spine back to make the naked breast even more evident.

She had long since discarded the dress, now wearing only the bottom part of her white lingerie (She just have lingerie's), with my mark showing on her neck (She _adores_ that thing). Right now, she is trying to bring out my lust urges, as she frequently tried to do, ever since that night a week ago. Her excuse is to 'take care of them before they ever have a chance to appear fully'… She was not fooling anyone.

I actually thought that all talk about urges was an exaggeration, that my feelings were results of the memories of the past life; but in this week I lost myself to these urges two times, all each cause me to black out and wake up in the breasts in my mouth of a very satisfied Araneya under me. On the first time it was shocking, on the second I began to pay attention.

And now, I can definitely felt the lust urge rising.

"Oh! What a tragedy that would be! If only there were a gentleman that could help Mommy!" she gave me a coy side look.

We both knew she got me hooked.

I got up from the chair and made my way to her.

"Are your boobs full of milk, mother." I asked, using my 'Naïve little boy who is about to do very inappropriate things to his mother' voice.

"Oh yeah, sweetie they are full to the brim!" She said in a melodramatic voice, covering her nipple with her hand and pushing them up lightly, just to make them jiggle.

A blush was starting to form; she recognized the voice and loved what usually comes with it. Funny thing is; she really thinks I'm naïve to some of these things… I don't have the heart to correct her.

"Are they hurting Mother?"

"Yes sweetie very much so, Mommy's in so much pain." Her hip trembled; she loves these naughty little conversations as much as I do.

"May I milk you then? To ease your pain," I tilted my head slightly to the side, bringing my cuteness to over nine thousand.

"Oh! What a polite little gentleman I have!" I could see every part of her being struggling to not hug me; I don't think she would have managed to hold, without the increase of willpower. "So eager to take care of Mommy's pain!" …More than you think mother, "Of course you may, sweetie." She smiled brightly.

She bends forward a little showing me her cleavage.

"Now if you-"

"Kneel, Mother." My voice came gently, but my intention was that of a command, and for the essence; that was enough.

Her eyes widen as her body obeyed without question.

"Wh-" she tries to question, but I already put my hand on her ear, pulling lightly, not nearly enough cause pain.

"Now, come with me, mother, we must do this properly." I directed her to the side of the bed. Her body proficiently walking on her hand and knees, moving with a perfect mix of elegance and sensuality, and she didn't even realize she was doing it, her mind still lost in confusion.

Hm…Seems like her instincts as a 'pet' still very sharp.

"Put your arm on the bed to support our upper body, yeah just like that" she moved her forearm to the bed, her spine bent perfectly, displaying the plump rear. Her legs spread just enough to give her a firm center. The giant globes hanged hypnotically, the puffy tip pointing to the ground. She also took this position instinctively.

Yep…that's one well-trained sub right here.

"Are you comfortable?"

"Yes, mistr- EH!... H-Hum…E-Ely what was that?" she finally came back to her mind.

Yes, I kept that aspect of the Binder to myself until now, as a surprise.

"That no good Mother, You can't talk like anymore…" I say innocently, my hand trailing her hair softly, "You need to be milked, remember? So that's means that you are not a devil today." I smile brightly for her, " You are a _cow_ now, a healthy, beautiful cow that deserves to by thoroughly milked, that means that you can only make cow sounds," her face reddens as I talked. "That's what they say in the animal book!" That was bullshit; I just added the last part to make me seem more innocent. She'd find it hotter this way.

"Moo-" She began, but cut herself short when she realizes that she _couldn't_ form words anymore.

Her eyes widened like plates, then dipped her head low between her arms to hide her blush, a futile effort for her blush is very bright, and her skin is very pale. I could see the shiver traveling down her spine as she finally began to realize what's going on. I decide to tease her a bit more, and formed a shadow bucket right beneath her breast, well inside her fiend of vision. Her hips _quaked_ against the air when she saw the thing.

To explain what is happening to her, you have to understand that Araneya Dantalion is a hardcore sub. She _loves_ to give herself to someone whom she loves and trust, to have them assume all control over her heart and body, especially now that her own lust urges are slowing reappearing after centuries of inactivity. And… well…

I'm the one that she loves the most, and I just took _all_ control from her.

I slowly caressed her back, massaging the twitching, increasingly sweaty muscles, helping her come down from the small orgasm. I could see the thin rivulet that trailed down her leg; the smell of her arousal was a lot more noticeable. I imagined that her womanhood was visible through the white fabric by now, any maid that enters the room at this moment would have a sight for the ages.

Soon, her body relaxed, her head fell boneless forward; her eyes still locked on the Bucket. I brought my hand to her ribs, feeling the burning skin on my way; my thumb began to lightly play with one of her pleasure spots on the base of her breast.

"Are you ready Mommy?" I breathed out.

With a slow alluring movement, her head rises. Her face turned to me, hair spilling to the side like an artful avalanche, and-Fucking hell that's an intense look! Her pretty mouth formed a dazzling smile.

" _Mooooooooooooo~."_

…I never hear her voice so filled with passion…

T-That's the hottest thing I ever heard.

-0-0-0-

"Thank you, Belinda that's would be all," I say to the clouded eyed maid, "You can go back to your room now, please forget all about this conversation."

The blond woman stood from the chair and gave a deep bow, before exiting the room to continue her sleep. Tomorrow, she would feel more tired than usual, but she wouldn't remember a word that was said here tonight.

Between the twelve 'Battle Maids' that worked in the Castle I actually despise Belinda the least. She was the only one actually to feel any sympathy for my Mother's ordeal, and wished that she could do something about it; my enmity comes from the fact that she didn't actually do anything to help during the decades she's been working at the Castle. The other eleven were utterly indifferent to the suffering or found a sadistically glee on it.

Out of all seventy-three maids working on the castle, there are twelve that acted as it's defense force. It made sense for it to be this way seeing that no guard was allowed inside. Power wise, they are actually pretty good, all of them are high Middle-Class devils with the specialty in teamwork and take out stronger opponents. But more important, they are some of the oldest maids on the staff, and worked for Gerhardt for a long time. So they know about his capabilities.

And now I know about his capabilities.

The Essence of the Binder is…helping out a lot.

Fuck, if only I…

Anyway, The essence has been a literal blessing to me up to this point; it gave me the best alternative for how to deal with Gerhardt… Oh, he still going to die, but in the future, for now, he will stay alive to keep the enemies of our back.

That said, during this last two weeks, I did my best to learn whatever I could about the Essence and prepare for our 'confrontation'.

To place a mark on someone, I have to be in direct skin-to-skin contact with them for a period of five seconds, no more, no less. These are the hard limits, maybe I could do something about it later, but in these two weeks, I hadn't managed to change them.

The Essence does not give me a direct way to mind-control someone, so it has to be done indirectly using the Orders. The Orders work precisely as an absolute order should, and it can be used to plant suggestions in someone's head, to make them sleep or enter in a trance, these kinds of thing. I hadn't managed to test all the limitations of it yet. I just know that the one marked must be able to understand the order and that it has to be given directly, and the Order must come from me.

Another way of 'mind control' that the essence gave me is by manipulating the loyalty of the marked, but that is dangerous… like _really_ dangerous. I imagine it works well in long-term, by graduating increasing the loyalty until 'fanatic devotion' levels, but in the short term… The problem is that… Well, I could push the loyalty to fanatic devotion levels from the get-go, but as I and one of the Battle maids found out, suddenly going from "Adorable kid who is son of my Boss/lover" to "Adorable kid who is the sole propose of my existence and I would do anything and everything for him" doesn't really work well in keeping sanity… I had to erase that memory from her.

An ordinary mind just isn't prepared to suddenly become devoted to something, it literally drives someone crazy, and I kind of need Gerhardt to stay sane, unfortunately. Any other level of extreme loyalty it also _very_ noticeable; you will notice and question if you suddenly became loyal to someone for no apparent reason. The 'Orders' method is a lot more efficiently than the Loyalty one, but of course; the right way to use this is by combining the two methods.

So for me to win, I had to keep skin-to-skin contact with a veteran high-class devil of proven power for five seconds, that's…doable.

According to the maids, besides the advanced magic and physical strength that you would expect from a Head of a Pillar's house, his main stick is _enchantments,_ which worked similarly to a magic circle but with a few fundamental differences. With enchantment, you bound a magical effect to something, with magic circles you store the spell in a circle… there are some others uses, but it's basically that.

It's like… Well, for example; if you have a sword and put a magic circle someplace in it, you will be able to cast a spell to make the blade catch fire, but you would have to cast the spell every time you picked it up. If you _enchant_ the sword instead, then it would become a magical flame sword; the magical fire effect is permanently bound to the sword. And that's just the basics.

In summary, Gerhardt Dantalion is not only a powerful devil but also a _War Enchanter._ And that is really bad for me.

You see that fucker had enchanted this entire castle; every single room is a trap for his enemies and a sanctuary for him, especially places where he frequents the most, like his office or his bedroom. Because of that, a direct confrontation is the last thing that I want, but if everything has gone to shit, I'll fight him directly.

I'm actually a bit more confident in face him now that I know what he is capable of, but the fight will undoubtedly be very flashy, and I don't know if I could keep the witnesses from talking... if just one escape I'd fucked… If it comes to that, I'll try to end it in one blow.

…But, I never fought anybody before, and he is a _war veteran_ … I couldn't help but be a little afraid of it.

I managed to learn the basics of enchantments from some of the maids and watching some of Gerhardt's works around the castle, but I'm not nearly proficient enough to undo all of the things he put in the castle during _centuries._ And I'm afraid of what will happen if he notices that his enchantments have been tampered with.

I have…some plans, nothing really guaranteed; I was counting on the first one, of him _initiating_ the contact to unbalance my Mother, I will have a chance to mark him them, if not… Well, I'll have to go for the offensive. I just have to touch him for five seconds, and I'm an adorable four years old, I can work something out.

…Or I could wait for a more opportune moment; to solidify my base a bit more; to make sure my attempt _will_ succeed. But…but after hugging my Mother all day because the sheer fact that he will come back tomorrow was almost too much for her to handle…

 _I will not let him touch her again._

I spent almost the entire night reviewing his strategies and powers with the Battle maids, Belinda being the last one.

During these weeks I manage to mark every single maid in the castle. They must be thinking I was suffering from lust urges for how touchy I've been lately; it was nothing sexual really, mostly hugs; cuddles and a few kisses, and none of then rejected my touch though, so it was okay.

But not for mother apparently, she demanded three times the numbers of hugs and kisses that I give them. I was more than happy to oblige.

…Mother.

I finally got up from the chair and made my way to the bed, throwing away my pajamas while at it.

She was sleeping peacefully on it… I only have to wish her sweet dreams for her in the form of an order to keep the night terrors away now… is refreshing to see her so peaceful after spending the day as a pile of nerves.

She immediately reacted to my proximity, unconsciously bringing me to her naked breasts. After two weeks both of us has given up the motion of not sleep naked, given how good skin contact feels, and as always our shadows merged together when we got closer.

She has got a lot better over the last few weeks, not nearly enough to take care of the _Centuries old emotional trauma_ but the primary function of the Binder's Essences worked wonders to lessen the need she had for proximity all the time. Turns out the capacity to communicate telepathy and to know my location all the time, is doing wonder to help her deal with the lack of my presence.

During the day where I focused on marking the maids, she actually stayed in the room, making it the first time I traversed the corridors of the Castle alone; she spent the entire time sending thoughts to me like an overbearing mother in a chat room of course, and I had to answer every single one of them for fear that she would do something drastic, but it was an achievement.

There are also little things; the way she behaves, that lady mask of her is beginning to feel more natural. Ironically, because it was losing the perfection it had before, little thing like a small smile out of place, some innocuous sighs that escaped and leave her a blushing mess, and the overall more relaxed feel she gave.

And of course, there is the slow return of her lust urges, which had been suppressed over the years. Our first session opened the dam for their return, but to be honest, I think they already returning since I was born, the process just accelerated.

That's… almost too much for two weeks, makes me wonder if the Essence was doing something to her. It states in the description that I have the ability to change aspects of the marked, maybe my desire to 'Fix' her have something to do with this.

I drew myself closer, there is no time to sleep anymore, but I was going to bask in her warm for a while longer.

Today is the day.

I'm going to bind Gerhardt and put an end to my mothers' suffering. It's relatively simple to do that; I just have to get it right.

He is going to be back by the end of the afternoon and will ask for mother at around midnight. I have until that time to act, and if I do not succeed until them, then I will _End_ him, fuck the consequences.

I…I haven't told Mother of what I intend to do. I'm afraid of how she would react; to know that I'm planning to act against one of the responsibles to take away everything she had… well, I can't predict what her response would be.

But it's all right. Tomorrow everything will be fine…

We just have to get through today.

-0-0-0-

"Master Elias! Where are you goin-"

"FALL ASLEEP!"

I didn't stay to watch the tutor body hit the floor. I was already breaking the door out of its hinges, running through the corridors at full speed.

I fucked up.

 _Once again I fucked up._

All the plans I made, all the strategies and preparations, it all relayed on his position on the castle.

The spaces that had to act are all in areas where he put the least amount of fortification, like hallways, the dining room, the garden, these kinds of places. His office and his bedroom were the absolute worst places for me to act.

And by act, I mean touching him for five seconds, I don't have to fight, just hold his hand on the hallway or something, he would probably be so shocked that I actively initiate the contact, that he wouldn't know what to do. The preparations are mostly in case something terrible happens.

All I needed is the right timing, and I would be able to succeed, and it helps that I knew his routine in the castle.

 _And guess who decided to do something out of routine today._

I don't know why he did it; maybe he got hungry from spending to weeks without her, perhaps he saw how much better she was now and couldn't wait to see her reactions, or he went crazy for how much more beautiful she looked (I _really_ should have thought of that). But as soon Gerhardt stepped into the castle he grabbed my mother by the arm and pulled her to his _office._

What that fuck!?

No, seriously what the hell is up with the chains of events!?

First, he arrives _much_ early than expected, during the time of my lessons, the one time where I'm not together with her, his sudden arrival leaves her so panicked that she forgets to send me a message to warn me, and all of that happened during an actually interesting part of the lesson where I got so engaged that I was distracted enough for him to slip past my radar.

 _Is this the Gremory's bullshit luck power that I read about!?_

The Essence of Binder saved my ass; in one moment I was utterly hooked by the tales of devilkind's bloody political wars, in another; our mind bridge light up, sending an automatic message saying that my mother as in _peril_. In that very same instant pulled her current memories.

She was bent over his officer table with her forehead against the hardwood; her dress pulled to her waist, her lingerie-clad bottom raised in the air, he was slowly circling her, casually undressing while saying something, and probably admiring the view. She wasn't listening to what he was saying; her mind was clouded by the by the inevitability of what was about to happen.

Fuck no…

FUCK NO!

Not again!

I increased my speed; a confrontation is now inevitable, my shadow could pass through his enhancement to a degree, but I would have to take him out of the castle to increase my changes. The initial strike must be realized in the most efficient way possible, I would, of course, aim to kill, but considering that he is in his office I don't believe that he will die from the first strike, but he will be surprised, and I must capitalize that the best I can, also have to try to keep mother from the crossfire.

I turn around the corner, at this speed, I must have a few seconds before I reach-WHAT AM I DOING!

WHY AM I RUNNING!?

I slipped into the nearest shadow ( _Which I should have done so in the first place!_ ) and immediately was there.

He…had not penetrate her yet; her underwear was down to her thigh leaving her bare, his member was firmly pressed between her asscheeks, he was leaning his entire body down on her, his face close, speaking something to her ear.

The panic and dread left me at that moment, all that remained was _**Fury.**_

From the deeps of existence, the fundamental lack of light stirs to my call. Unseeing by everyone; it gathered below the room like a shark preparing for the slaughter.

I shaped the aspect of it to be one to simply _consume_. The power and the size of it, as it's ability to consume would depend on the amount of Demonic energy.

A pour almost all of it. Keeping just enough to say in the shadow by the end.

Right now, the result will produce a pillar of shadow that will rise to the skies, with enough width to probably take out the entire castle.

Everything inside will seize to exist, with the sole exception of Mother; who will feel like upward raindrops were hitting her.

… _In that moment, nothing else matters but the death of Gerhardt Dantalion._

I watched as his entire body froze. His battle earned instincts warning about certain death. His eyes begin to widen.

Too late-

* * *

What…

Where am I?

I'm-OH FUCK!

I jump from where I was lying on the carpet floor, fighting through the sudden feeling of dizziness. What that fuck happened!

Fuck! calm down, what was I doing?

I was in the shadow just now… preparing a spell to kill that piece of shit that was about to…

NO!

Fuck No!

I pull her memories through our link preparing for what I was going to find…

…

…Oh.

Okay…I…I need a minute.

I put my back against the wall, sliding down to the floor. The rollercoaster of emotions that I felt in the last few minutes began to affect me. I did my best to process the information.

Going by her memories; he was provoking her, trying to get a new reaction, texting just how much she got better while he was away. Then, at the end of it all just as he was about to enter her…threatened me.

 _And then she snapped._

…

Had I... been ejected from the shadow? I don't know; the entire place suddenly became _the Abyss_. It wasn't hostile, but the sheer weirdness of it made me flinch, and unconsciously jump out. My own shadow still charged with energy, so I began to pull it back inside me, to keep it from consuming things randomly.

I had a look at her situation again…Yep; still don't know to feel about this.

I have to get to her…

The office wasn't far from here; it just took a few minutes at a casual pace, there was nothing in the hallway that indicates that something was wrong, nothing out of place, there was no sign that anything wrong was happening behind the heavy wooden door.

To anyone but me… it was small and muffled, but I could hear the shadows twisting and scraping inside.

The Enchantments at the door were quickly consumed by my shadow, uncaring for whatever or not Gerhardt felt its destruction. I took a calming breath, before finally opening the door.

Immediately, the Abyss spilled out.

 _ **Thorns**_

The countless amount of crooked, _thorny_ vines filled my vision; a pitch-black thorn bush made of Pure Shadow covered the entire place, eating away even the smallest of lights; I can only imagine what this visage would do to the mind of a regular devil, one not from the Dantalion Lineage.

The vines were quick to lash out, taking advantage of my shocked state; they wrapped around me completely, looking to annihilate the intruder who dares to take a step into their realm.

It lasted till the first contact with my skin, after that, the sharp thrones that could probably put a hole in a dragon became soft and squishy; the violent movements not dissimilar that of a blender became a happy dance and the brutal grip became a loving hug. The Weird Abyss pulled me inside, closing the door behind it.

…Ok… that's kind of unsettling… The _entire_ thing was now trying to hug me, with all its vastness, it's like having the world as a whole bend itself around you, the impossible angles were giving me a headache.

This is my mother's shadow… no, not really…. this is a thing that lives inside her shadow… maybe part of it at the same time? To be honestly, I don't know what it is exactly, but it didn't work as a regular shadow. This thing is self-aware to an extent. It's easily transmitting its emotions to me… its desire to protect, its immense joy for my presence, its boundless love…It's hunger.

Mother always had a weird shadow, when I noticed it, I thought that just the normal for a Dantalion's shadow but watching her memories and seeming my Grandmother's hints… well; Mothers shadow is unique, that's obvious, but I hadn't expected this.

It's actually kind of clique; I mean a mysterious eldritch shadow being living inside of someone, which only awakens if the host is in great danger; That's some shounen bullshit right there… and it's Centuries too late…

My own shadow surged in an attempt to connect with it but was unsuccessful; this thing was so _weird_ , so different from a real shadow and yet so similar. I believe I could link to it eventually, but I would have to experiment…

Fuck it, no patience for this now, I have to get to mother.

"Can you put me down now?" I attempted the old style of communication and tried not to think of how sound could travel in this place. "This is getting weird."

With my feet meeting on the 'ground', I finally had a chance to better take in the state of the room, or at least try to. The bush was the only thing I could see, the only thing I could hear was the lullaby it was singing with its movement. It felt like I was back in the shadows, in the Shadow Realm so to speak, but like the place somehow imposed itself on reality.

Pretty sure the office isn't that big though, I should be able to notice something by now, but I hadn't.

"Can you please take me to my mother?" It didn't hurt to ask; it worked before anyway.

A thin shadow vine spread to me from the walls, its pinched my cheek for being polite, before wrapped itself around my wrist, weakly tugging to where I need to go.

…

Fuck it! Let's see where this goes.

While I was making my way through the shadow thorns, I began to find the furniture of the office, a mangled wooden chair there, a broke bookcase here, pieces of the floor…then I realize then what happened.

The space inside the room has been swallowed by this abyss, and spread out as far as it could go; that explains the sheer distance between the things. Time also seems to be distorted here, as I soon lost track of how long I was walking.

After a small eternity, I began to approach them. The sounds reach me first; the distinct sound of flesh meeting flesh, the pleasure moans with a crazy edge, the occasional maniac laughter. All muffled by the thorns.

Finally, I arrive at the table.

…

Gerhardt's muscles coiled with the strength of each thrust, his body drenched with a dense layer of sweat, his breath hot and ragged, a grunt escapes from him in each movement.

My Mother trembled profoundly as feeling the uncontrollable pleasure traverse through her body, the massive breast bouncing up and down violently, already long since escaped the confines of her bra, which was pushed underneath them. The movement cause drops of sweat to fly in every direction, I could see her ample ass jiggle rhythmically with the trusts.

As she drives the enormous thorny shadow dick inside him.

…I had seen that in her memories early, but it still surprised me.

What should I feel in this situation? Triumph? Satisfaction? A wicked glee for his suffering? I'm sure I'll feel that later, for now, the emotional rollercoaster was left me rather numb.

I'm just glad that she wasn't raped though.

I made my way to the unnecessarily big table, careful to not step on the Blood spilled on the floor, the majority of having bathed mother's legs, changing the color of her white stocking to a dirty red. Jumping over the edge, I got to see Gerhardt's state more clearly.

His arms and legs were engulfed in vines, the thorns dug deep into his skin warping around his muscles and bones, the limbs were spread out to their limits, his legs were also pulled up, to give mother better access, his mouth was wide open by a mass of vines using as an entrance to get into his body, the holes that were open in his throat are intentionally saving him from drowning in blood. With each powerful thrust, a meek painful grunt escaped. His eyes were dashing around trying to find anything that could help him, while keeping from focus too much on the abyss to not adding to the mental assault that he must have suffering from the sounds.

Ironically his member was rock-hard, and a thick mix of cum and blood painted his chest. In some part, he's enjoying this; this is a new face of mother that he had never seen before, a new _reaction_ from her.

His eyes focused on me when I got close, but I ignore him for more important matters.

Mother's face was twisted in a maniac expression of pleasure; she smile was too broad, her hair was flying untamed with the movements, the lewd sounds she was letting out were joining the abyss's melody almost seamless. Her eyes were lost in the feeling, part of the abyss moving inside were showed by her sclera's, which had acquired the color of a Shadow Glass sculpture, making the unfocused blood red swing in eldritch black, a vision that would captivate any being.

She didn't notice me even when I entered her field of vision.

Is she still my mother? Has the abyss taken over her mind? Or the years of suffering finally drove her out of the edge. I didn't know, but there is time to wonder about that later, now I had to get her attention.

Ok then, let's try something…

Her shadow was there, serving as the gateway for the abyss, being a part of it and not at the same time, it was a really confusing image.

I brought out my shadow close, and they merge together-

 _FUCKING HELL!_

Mother drove herself deep into Gerhardt and stayed there, throwing her head back and letting out a long wail as a powerful orgasm hit her. The entire Abyss quaked with her. Gerhardt begins thrashing, the painful sounds rising as he feels the effect of her climax doing whatever the fuck inside his body.

I slowing let out the breath I was holding. The sheer intensity of pleasure brought by the merging has put my young body to text; my pants became unbearable tight as my body did his best to cum, but it just wasn't capable of it yet.

" **Oh…huff, huff…is that you sweetie?"** She turned her attention to me; her voice had acquired an alluring shadow-ish tone. **"That no good, no good at all; mommy and daddy are playing."** She looked at me lovingly. Her hips began giving small trusts, drawing more whining from Gerhardt. **"Just be a good boy and go back to our room ok, Mommy will let you play with her breasts later."** She turned her attention back to Gerhardt, her voice gaining a malicious tone. **"I'm almost done with daddy."** By that way which she said that, and the way his eyes lighten out in fear; I realize her intentions.

 _She wants to fuck him to death._

…

Good.

That's good. He deserves that.

…But.

"Gerhardt can't die, mother, his death will bring us many troubles. Can you please get out of him for a moment."

…Fuck I feel dirty for saying that… She wants him dead; I want him dead, yet the fallout that will bring will be-

" **Ok!"** the answer came without hesitation. She immediately takes the shadow dick out of him.

…What?

Seriously! Just like that! The fucker tortured her for centuries, locking her in a circle of humiliation and pain, and now that she got the change to make him pay for it, she was willing to let that go just because I asked.

Fuck… this woman.

…Not the time to think about that. I pushed my shadow between the vines that were going in his mouth, analyzing that state of his insides. The thorny vines had tangled themselves in whatever they could grab on to, bringing agony with them; the muscles, the bones, the nerves, the organs… All were mangle by the thorns. I also noticed that the shadow dick had ejaculated some kind of liquid shadow, and it was slowing eating away his bowels like an acid… The fact that he still alive was a testament to how tough he really is.

Then, I found out why he couldn't escape his binds; the vines were made of shadow, and were using the aspect of _Conceal_ ; hiding away his demonic energy and physical strength from him. They still there, but he couldn't find it, for they were deep within the shadows.

That's fucking cool. I never thought about using shadow like that.

Anyway, he is not dead yet, but he is dying, and I have to do something about that.

Devil magic hasn't made for healing, the energy is just too voracious for that, self-healing is fine, but healing others…well, let's just say that demonic energy wasn't made to benefit another's body. I maybe could do something about that later.

There is a real possibility that my Demonic energy is in actuality my 'reactor', so to speak, meaning that it can possibly change its nature.

But I haven't tested that, so for now, I'll just stick with quantity versus quality.

My shadow spread thin across his entire body, wrapping themselves to it, giving particular attention to the worst parts. Then, through each one of the hundred of thousands ends, I casted the most potent healing spell I knew.

It wasn't anything special, but the sheer number made the spell affect his body really fast, on the outside it looked like he has suddenly gained a healing factor.

He turns to look at me with gratitude…I stick my finger in his eye.

The strength was enough to pop a regular human's, but for a him, it just bought great discomfort. As he shook his head trying to throw my hand off, the five seconds passed, and a thick chain tattoo appears around his neck, it was the first time I lament that the marking process didn't cause pain.

"Here mother… Now he should survive whatever you do to him." I looked at her innocently, "You can continue for how long you want."

She smiled at me with an insane amount of affection. Gerhardt began screaming again, trying to fight the inevitability of his fate.

Once more, the spiked shadow dick slams back into his brutalized asshole.

 _He kept screaming for a very long time._


	7. Chapter 6

Betas:This chapter was beta'd by Eveakane and Gaouw back in QQ forum.

Chapter 6

* * *

Heavy.

Everything is too fucking heavy…

And Cold too!

…I really should have thought this through.

The eerily silent Hellbeast jumps to my side, trying to take a bite out of my shoulder. I almost got scraped by a bone blade that grew out of its torso when I dodged. My small fist pulverize its stomach midair.

The thing hit a tree in an entirely new outside from its early trajectory, the strength of the hit causing blood and gore to fly out of its mouth, but in mere moments it's up on its feet again while rapidly healing.

Right, they are almost immortal now. I forgot about that.

On the right, I could see three more of them circling me, trying to find or make an opening; the other five must be among the trees, staying unseen for a possible ambush, or to act if I try to escape the kill zone. The last one would take a few minutes to get its insides uncrushed.

These are the most dangerous kind of Hellbeasts; individually, they could take out a Middle-Class devil, but together they could bring down a High-Class one. And the terrifying thing is… They are still getting stronger.

I would know. I made them that way.

The one on the right moves to attack, but it stops upon my own movement. I quickly jump back when my lunge triggered their trap, causing another one to burst up from the snow on my previous position, its teeth would have lacerated my legs, or my belly if it was lucky. But I saw it coming.

Now, the Dantalion's Forest is not really a dangerous place overall. It's located on the immediate vicinity of the Dantalion's Castle, so the guards would work to decrease the Hellbeast population on a regular basis, keeping it just enough not to bother the Family or visitors, while still showing the might of the Dantalion's lands.

Over the last two years, that became virtually unnecessary; as I 'marked' every big player in the forest, effectively taming the entire beast population. Now, the forest is an active part of the Family's defense.

And I ordered every Beast here to 'evolve' and 'grow stronger'.

The beauty of the orders is that I don't really need to worry about the wording; the important thing is my intention.

The one on the left moves its body a certain way. Wait does that mean? – Yep, they can throw the bone spikes like a projectile now, that's neat…

The Beasts also serve as an excellent training partner; I only need to order one to 'kill me' to have them go Animal Planet on my six-year-old ass. But that's not really the problem.

The problem is that my 'weight seal' (Which is not really a seal, I'm just being cheesy) decides that now is an excellent the time to increase its intensity, right on the middle of a life and death battle.

I tear the bone spike from my shoulder. Another one moves in my blind spot and took the opportune to bite my arm, throwing his weight over me to make me fall. The other should join in less than a second… And sure enough, a pair of mouths with teeth that could tear through steel joins the first one.

…They couldn't even pierce my skin as all my muscle hardens to an absurd degree.

My primary reason for fighting these beasts is to work on my Warlord Essence _and only that_. Once again I'm reminded of how much bullshit they are…

You see, this Essence gives me a 'Supernatural mastery' to many combat styles, be it armed or unarmed. The first thing I noticed is that it doesn't actually teach me the style, no- it makes me a _Master_ in it. But the other thing is much more meaningful…

 _As the Essence did not specify which styles I can become a master of._

 _"_ Shigan!"

My finger pierces the eye of one of the beasts. It wasn't long enough to reach the brain, so I made sure to pass my entire hand through the skull, destroying the brain in the process.

The other two Hellbeasts jump away immediately; the rest of them cut the ambush short to get back to their early position. The one with an open head was dead; no matter how much they regenerate, they couldn't do brains.

Usually, the death of a pack member would cause them to retreat. But my orders are absolute.

I stand up with difficulty, my body struggling against an enormous pressure, which was built for the past two years in a continuous, torturous circle. The seal would always increase the pressure on the moment I grew accustomed to it, making my life one of constant effort.

Fuck… A few minutes ago I would be able to use 'Shigan Oren' and kill the three of them at once, but the new pressure forced me to adapt until I can use my melee techniques again... I could still use 'Soru', but 'Geppo' was out of the picture for now.

The two began circling once again, and other two came out of the tree line, one of them starting to dig. They are changing tactics…

I could always stop this; a single order would make them stop, or I could release the weight seal to make the fight a piece of cake or decrease the level of pressure to the one I was used to before…

I feel my face spread into a feral grin.

…But where is the fun in that?

-0-0-0-

Nine wolf-like beasts stand perfectly still in a straight line, their white fur blending with the snow on the ground, their two pairs of eyes giving a vastly wider field of vision compared to most of the creatures in this forest. The bone spikes decorated their torso, each with its own unique design, making each member of the pack look distinct from one another.

They are beautiful, a far cry from the hungry pack I found a year and a half ago.

With just a hand sign, they burst forward. Moving to eat their old corpses as a reward of a good training session, and after that, they would be gone, running almost invisibly through the forest, searching for more food and new ways to fulfill their primary orders.

I wonder if there are any limits to how strong they could grow; I didn't give them the essence of the Blank, but the right orders seem to produce a similar effect on a marked being…

Every single beast here is now a force to be reckoned with, and ironically made the surrounds a much safer place for the staff and visitors, but a hellish nightmare to any invader.

I sat down on a new tree stump caused by the fight, letting my body catch its breath.

I'm not tired, my infinite stamina taking care of that pesky problem forever, but my body still feels the superficial effects of a heavy exercise. I could even become sweaty and breathless, but that's about it, and I could easily power through it if I wanted.

The immunity to pain is also a boon, it's… difficult to explain the exact sensation to someone, as the ability to feel pain is one of the fundamental characteristics of a biological creature; it's very hard to conceptualize life without it. I'm not incapable of feeling pain, I can register it and its intensity just fine, it just doesn't faze me in the slightest, the negative effects of pain doesn't affect me anymore.

Those two abilities helped me a lot in my training; honestly speaking, I don't think I'll ever subject myself to this if I didn't have them. Seriously, one thing that media loves to skip over, is that the Shounen 'Training From Hell' is really _fucking hard_ , and is really _fucking long._

Try sleeping while your body is crushed by tons of pressure… Not even the breast pillows helped- alright, they helped a little.

My point is, in these last two years, with the immediate danger gone; I could properly focus on my training. I don't really know how strong I am now without a proper measurement, but I'm definitely stronger than Gerhardt in every single aspect. And with him being a High-Class devil and officially the strongest Devil in the Dantalion's region, I say my power is growing well.

But that's not a reason to become complacent, Hell no. I will never grow complacent; there is always something that I could do to be better, to be more powerful, and to reach my objectives faster.

My potential is unlimited, so as long as I don't stop, I will continue to grow… And Gerhardt isn't even the tip of the iceberg for these world's true powers.

It's still not enough to fight against the underworld and win, which I would have to do if I really pick a fight with the Gremory in the future. To tell the truth I don't even care about them all that much, my real problem is with Grayfia and the current Lucifer, but yeah, that would draw a lot of attention, and involve a lot of people, so my focus is not on revenge but to build a safer base, where I can get to the suitable power level without interruptions. The revenge is more of an inevitable side effect for when I get strong enough to fuck the world.

Even Mother doesn't care about that; she is perfectly happy living the way we are now.

Speaking of Mother…

I look up to the sky at the encroaching clouds, barely managing to see the purple above; we will not have a blizzard tonight, it's not that time of year yet, but the snow level would increase considerably by night, and in the Dantalion's region, it gets dark pretty early.

…I should probably get back before she becomes agitated, the worried thoughts should begin to arrive any minute now.

I sigh as I drop into the shadow of the stump, heading to the guard post first to get a clean set of clothes; no need to give her a mental breakdown from all the blood.

-0-0-0-

"Welcome back, young master. I hope you had a fruitful training."

Belinda was guarding the door _outside_ the room, which means…

Fuck.

"How is she?" I say, trying to suppress the wince.

The new head of the battle maids takes a moment to organize her thoughts before responding. "Better… definitely better than the last time, nothing happened yet, at least." A flicker of worry passes through her eyes, before she remembers who she was talking to. "I humbly ask for the young master to quell my Lady's worries before it becomes too much for her." She finished with the required formality, a bit more daring for a maid, but it was alright considering our weird relationship.

"Right, thank you for taking care of her." She bows deeply as I move to enter the room.

I eventually forgave Belinda for her early inaptitude towards my mother's situation. Right now, she is the head of the battle maids, after the old Head and two of them, ah, ' _mysteriously disappeared'_. But more importantly she is Mother's new personal maid and bodyguard, and they were actually quick to form an actual friendship, one of the few my mother's ever had in her life.

Now, I didn't miss how she called mother 'my Lady'… Yeah, she does have a crush on Mother; I don't know if this is a recent development, or if she felt that way before, when I first checked her mind, I was more preoccupied in Gerhardt's abilities than her thoughts about my Mother.

And that left our relationship on a weird vibe, but not the bad kind of weird. I'm the son of her crush and the 'Young master' of the house, so she tries to treat me as nice and formally as possible, but in our time spent together, we ended up developing an odd friendship; that happened when she realized that I'm brilliant for a six-year-old and could actually follow conversations, and when I realized that she is a genuinely good person.

That didn't prevent me from messing the fuck out of her mind of course, safety comes first after all.

She isn't 'programmed' as rigidly as the other staff members are though. They still see the days passing with little change from two years ago. To them, Mother is still sleeping with Gerhardt every night, and still spending time with me at all hours of the day, with a few minor differences that happened naturally. And of course, they are incapable of noticing anything wrong with each other, and that everything my Mother and I do is considered perfectly reasonable to them.

Belinda has a perception more close to reality. To her, the new role that she is enjoying is because of a direct order from Gerhardt, and the fact that Mother and I are sleeping together now is because he grew tired of her after all these years. She also wouldn't notice anything wrong if she shares histories with the other maids, or see anything suspicious about me.

The Essence of Binder is pure bullshit

About her crush, well I actually feels really happy about it. Her friendship with Mother is genuinely helping. Furthermore, according to all the information I manage to dig up, I learned that devil's relationships aren't normally monogamous in nature, with harems and open relationships being kind of the norm. And sure enough, the thought of sharing Mother with a beautiful woman or several doesn't irk me whatsoever… but if it is with a man… _that's a different fucking story._

But as she is right now, the thought of relationships with others still has some time to take root. I don't think she would ever stop being obsessed with me, not after seeing the intensity of the feeling first hand, but she is still so _dependent._

"I'm back Mother, sorry to keep you waiting."

I saw her shadow stop midway from warping to my waist and pulling me to her. She was sitting on a comfortable chair near the window - with what looked like a pair of knitting needles? - And a ball of yarn on the table beside her. The late afternoon light was working wonders to enhance her natural beauty. In fact, very few things don't improve her natural beauty now, with the Gerhardt's threat over I let the Breeder's Essence run its course (with the fertility setting still turned off) and the effect was quite apparent. Luckily for us, she is not very active in devil society, or someone would be bound to notice something.

She now looks as 'perfect' as she could ever be; I think she grew a few centimeters, her legs and ass are more prominent and well formed, even her breasts are a little bigger… But that could be because they were full of milk most of the time now.

I ignored the partially projected shadow on the floor and went directly to her. Her face was locked in a kind smile, all her muscles were clenched tight, and she wasn't breathing.

I sighed, this woman has some really weird ideas sometimes.

"Stop doing that Mother, is very weird." I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice. "If you want to hug me, then go ahead, I'm not disappointed with you."

On the next instant, my body was crush against hers, with my head in the familiar valley between the mountains as she began to circle around the room, carrying me like a doll, the relieved laughter ringing in my ears.

Finally, we ended up on the bed, my shadow moving to prevent hers from forming a cocoon around us, last time that happened it took a while to get out.

"Hey, sweetie… mommy missed you." she says from somewhere above me, her voice losing strength as it goes on, "…I'm sorry, I know that mommy has to be a bit less _clingy_ but she just-"

"I know Mother. You lasted for almost four hours this time. I'm proud of you."

On the first time I went training alone, the terror and anxiety got the better of her, and she lashed out. Belinda managed to keep her rampage in a single room until I arrived, but she got really hurt in the process. Even since then, she orders Belinda to guard the door if she begins to despair, usually sending me a pleading message in the process.

"Hehehe… 'I'm proud of you.' Ahhhh~! Ely is so cute when he tries to sound grown up."

"S-shut up, woman, what the hell are you saying?"… I don't actually sound like that, do I?

We wiggled in bed some more; neither of us were really willing to let go yet. The result was her sitting against the pillows, while big spooning me. Meanwhile, her hands moves to caress my chest, slowly popping more buttons of my shirts to reach more skin.

"Sooo, how was your training Ely." She doesn't really like to hear the bloody details, but an overview always makes her happy.

"It's going well, I got to a new level today in the physical aspect, beat up some monsters too. Tomorrow I'll try to focus on the magical aspect; I haven't managed to create the spells that I told you about, but I'm getting closer, so maybe the next time I'll get it right."

"Hmm… Ely is always so successful when training!" she buries her face in my hair, "Maybe you will become a Maou when you grow up."

"Woman, I will surpass the Maous when I grow up." She mumbles an affirmative and continues to bask in my warmth after spending four hours separated. "How was your afternoon, mother?"

"Hehehe. Belinda is teaching me how to knit! I am going to make you a sweater!"

Wait, Belinda knows how to knit?

"That totally doesn't fit her image," I say contemplative.

"I know right! That's what I said." She giggles, "After that, I showed her my new lingerie collection, the ones I showed you yesterday. Her face stayed red for hours. She is so fun to tease!"

I remembered the impromptu's fashion show yesterday… Victoria's Secret would kill for some of the pictures I took.

"Anyone's face would be red after that,"

"MMnn… Ely called me pretty. Mommy is so happy!"

Well, she seems happy and relaxed now, a far cry from the pile of nerves minutes ago; my presence must have reassured her. But still she _did_ become anxious, so I had to know if I have to reinforce the 'seals' again.

"How is she?"

Mother understood immediately.

"She hasn't moved once, I think she's beginning to understand when I'm really in danger, she been very calm lately." She answers patiently, still nuzzling my head.

The Abyss…Or Abby as mother began to call her. Over the last two years I tried to learn more about the childlike entity that lives in my Mother's shadows, and didn't find any documents about it, and is unlikely that I would, as the original Dantalion's library was burned centuries ago. But remembering grandmother's hints in the memories, I got the impression that this was not a unique case, and it also explained why Mother was so well regarded to her family even with an apparent subpar skill when it came to handling shadows. But then again, it could be that they just loved her, that's also a possibility.

Anyway, the entity has its own mind, and could only affect the world through mother, when she emerged the two shares the same body, but she has no problem with following mother's command. Mother also could give her complete control over her body, but that doesn't work too well, as she has difficulty controlling a humanoid form.

Power wise, the two can become a nightmare to anyone who pisses them off. However, Abyss' action is very instinctual, showing a preference for brute strength over finesse… But it's still a being of shadows, so sometimes it shows some of its more esoteric capabilities.

The downside is, beyond the extreme stress that it puts on the body, is the emotional state. It _greatly_ intensified Mothers emotions, especially the one she is feeling in the moment of the 'summon', she had managed to summon her in a meditate state once, but the slight feeling of triumph, turned into a mad happy dance, and ended up as a wild naked chase. Many people got their memories removed that day…

So yeah, Mother is not capable of using 'Abby' and keeping a clean head at the same time, that has its place in a fight, but until she has better control, it is best to be used as a last resort.

Abby also used to lash out if she ever felt that mother was in danger, which translates to every time she felt a negative emotion. But that seems to have lessened a bit.

"And your shadow?"

"Moo, Ely worries far too much, I'm fine, worrying is my job. You just have to have fun, ok?"

The 'seals' I put on her aren't exactly to seal away the Abyss, there is no reason to do it, as she proved to be quite benevolent; their function is to lessen the 'weight' of the abyss over mother's shadow and allow her to use it with its full capabilities for the first time. But the seals don't restrain the Abyss' movements in any way, so if she moves too much, or is summoned to reality, the seals break, and I have to remake them.

"I'm having fun getting stronger and plotting world domination, mother."

"Hehehe, whatever you say, sweetie."

I feel her move from behind me, falling to the bed and changing position, and I didn't do a single thing to stop her.

She ended up straddling me; her loose dress disheveled by the early movements, with the collar now in the middle of her breasts, just above the nipples. I ended up lying on the bed, arm lazily spread to the side, with my dress shirt completely open, giving her an unimpressed look.

"Now, now sweetie, we are getting a bit distracted here. It's almost dinner time so we have to hurry." The blush already began to show.

She grabs the waist end of the dress to keep it in place, and it only took a small push up with her chest to make her boobs pop out with an artistic bounce.

"Here Ely! Your post-training snack is ready- hum?" she gives another beautiful bounce, "Hehehe, Mommy hypnotized Ely again..."

Soon my vision is taken over by boobs as she leans over me, her fingers interlacing with my own because why not? We're already fucking degenerates…

"Like I say, we are a running a bit late today, so you have to do it a little stronger than usu-OOOooo~!"

-0-0-0-

Lying on the bed in my mother's naked embrace, I let my mind fall into the shadows, my body falling asleep on the outside.

And my shadow spread over the horizon.

The Dantalion's lands are not kind to its inhabitants; the biting cold temperatures that could suddenly drop even more in random locations, bringing a cold, lonely death to everything in it. The terrifying Hellbeasts which were honed into highly efficient killing machines by the brutal environment, and the strange magical phenomenon that are caused by the proximity to the death bed of an old Satan, which usually results in death and destruction. All of that makes for a very vicious place to live, one that only the strong have a chance to survive... And you'd think that would discourage my fellow Devils from coming here.

Well, you would be wrong, the Devils living here are proud of the dangers that surround them; to be able to live and thrive in these lands is considered a badge of honor. Every day thousands of Devils come to this region; maybe to test their might, maybe they would try to build a life here, or perhaps they were just proving their power to someone. All in all the Dantalion's region is a highly regarded one in the underworld, for its abundant mineral resources, and attractive wild dangers.

…I could see all of that, while my mind traverses through to shadows.

Every desperate minute as a beast fights to survive, every cold fear as the white death takes away another life, every tear of frustration when arrogant travelers find out that they bite way more than they can chew, every shout of triumph as a warrior kills a beast after a hard-fought battle, only to become one of fear as a second beast comes out of the woods were it was waiting. Thousand tiny moments of life and Death, all caught by the shadows within my range.

Truly, if it weren't for the essence of the Archmage, I would've been overwhelmed long ago.

Then, I reach the City of Hiemsfell, and the shadows sang a different but so very similar song.

The Capital is the Heart of the Dantalion's domain. Like it is with every part of the underworld, its economic and industrial importance couldn't be ignored, and its cultural wealth is a staple of the region. The entire city is protected by a climatic force field, similar to the one that the Castle have, but in a much larger scale. It kept the worst temperatures away, making it actually possible to survive there in certain periods of the year, and the government there has a rigorous beast raid regime to keep the Hellbeast population around the City as low as possible. All of that combining with the well-structured and attractive constructions makes for the safest and most desirable place to live in the region, save for maybe the castle itself.

Of course, as one would expect from a city localized in Hell itself, this safety was only an illusion.

As I predicted, the city has a deep and powerful dark underbelly; in fact, I say that the pretty surface is only a front to attract more flies to it. Everything there is corrupted, and everything happens there; drugs, gambling, prostitution, slavery, human trafficking, disappearances, unsolved murders, rape, gang warfare, widespread violence, you name it, it's happening there right now. The government is also part of it, and most of the efforts are spent just to keep appearances. That's actually a golden rule in the city, keep the dirty things in the shadows, under the light everything must be clean and beautiful. Every gang, petty thief, and crime syndicate follow that rule, and if someone breaks it…

Quite frankly, they're fucked.

And my dear Family... Well, they are right on top of it, in fact, the heads of the underbelly answer to the Dantalions as much as the city council does.

Indeed, Hiemsfell isn't all that different from the lands surrounding it; it is a place where only the strong have a chance to survive.

And I adore the place.

Every shadow there tells a different story, some tragic, some hopeful, some violent, and some peaceful, I could get lost in the tales of every single soul living in there, watching as they rise and fall, basking in their glory or defeat.

Of course, I have a few favorites, people whose life is more interesting than the rest, whose tales are more engaging than the next, who have more to lose or something to prove, or that have something different or unique about them.

Watching them is my favorite past time when I'm not training, so like a shadow-ish voyeur, I began to-

Hm.

It looks like something exciting is about to happen tonight.

… Let's see how that goes.

And maybe… just maybe… I would put my own spin on this particular narrative.

-0-0-0-

 **[XXXXX's Pov]**

It's cold.

It's always cold...

Yet my body is burning from the ache. Each difficult breath only worsen the fires, the blood already frozen on my dirty coat, my right shoulder hurt pretty bad. I can't move my arm, and my legs feel like they would fall off.

How long have I been running?

I…

Onee-sama told me to run and I just…

The alleyways started to look the same a while ago. The snow is fighting my steps. The world began to blur occasionally. I… I can't recognize where I am… my head hurts so badly.

…How could that happen?

Lila and Tyrion had just got back with the spoils from the night… I was told to organize it, as I always have, because Mister Baskin doesn't like to buy a messy package, and I can't do much else because I'm too small… And then, Onee-sama got down and started shouting, And the walls blow up.

Onee-sama told us to run... But they closed off all of our escape routes, there were so many…

I just kept running.

My leg hit my other one, the misstep making me fall.

I have to keep going, they could be there any minute.

What did Onee-sama tell me to do if that ever happens…

I can't remember... My head is pounding... Breathing hurt so much... My heart feels like it will explode... The snow feels so nice against my cheeks.

I'm so sleepy…

…

A soft sound of crushing snow came close to my ear; it took everything I had to turn my head.

A boy, young, but bigger than me - he would be big enough to start contributing to the field - my vision was too blurred to see his face properly, but his clothes were black and shifty, his feet were bare against the snow. Isn't he cold?

"Hey."

What…

 _His neck is exposed._

 _Put the shoulder bone back in place, jump to the prey, claws to the tender flesh._

"Ah" I let out a gasp, and I suddenly held against the cold wall of the alley.

"Woah, that was actually much cooler up close, is it your bloodline's ability?"

His voice sounded far away; all I could feel was the blinding pain in my head. His hands were the only things keeping me standing.

 _The arms are free, jab him beneath the ribs the piercing the prey's soft organs inside._

"Oi! That's dangerous. You shouldn't be using this ability like that, especially in your state."

It hurts... so much…

Why am I on the ground?

...He is so heavy.

"Can you control it, yet?"

 _Pop the shoulder bone out again for better mobility, aim for the-_

Darkness.

…

... Warm.

Something warm, entering my chest, spreading to my entire body, bringing a burning heat with it... I can breathe again; my head doesn't hurt so much now, and my vision starts to come back.

My head is laying on something soft, my coat was open, and one hand was placed in the middle of my chest, through the collar of my shirt. The upside down face of the boy starts to become clean.

"There, you're all good now. You really shouldn't push your demonic energy like that, you could really die if you're not careful."

…What?

I don't understand, where am I? W-Where is Onee-sama?

Wait... it's coming back… it's- there was an attack. T-the hideout! Everyone! _LYONA ONEE-SAMA!_

 _CLAWS TO THE NECK!_

 _JUMP FORWARD, AIM FOR THE THIGH!_

 _SPIN AROUND. LOW KICK TO CREATE AN OPENING!_

 _RECOVER FROM THE FALL! JUMP TO HIS SIDE!_

 _BOUNCE ON THE WALL, USING LEGS TO INCREASE SPEED!_

 _CLAW TO THE BELLY!_

 _BITE HIS THROAT!_

 _BREAK HIS RIBS!_

 _SEVERE HIS ARMS!_

 _CRUSH HIS LEGS!_

 _ **RIP.**_

 _ **AND.**_

 _ **TEAR.**_

…A pair of arms wraps me in a gentle embrace.

 _BREAK THE HOLD, MOVE TO THE R \- Death._

 _DUCK DOWN, HIT THE LEGS TO \- Death._

 _BREAK THE ARMS, GO To tH \- Death._

 _HeAdbutT HiM, MaKe A \- Death_

 _LeAn Forward, pier \- Death._

 _Hit to the ches \- Death._

 _Move to \- Death._

 _Bring \- Death._

 _Mo \- Death._

 _Death._

 _Death._

 _Death._

 _…_

Everything stops.

I staid there with my face against his chest, smelling his sweet lavender smell, feeling his comfortable warmth, and listening to his beating heart. Absently, I notice that my headache was back, but quickly began to fade as the early sensation appeared again.

He's giving me demonic energy… I saw Onee-sama do that once.

"Are you calm now?" He chuckled, "You went quite wild for a moment."

"Ah, sorry?"

"It's ok," He draws back, allowing me to see him clearly for the first time, "How are you feeling?"

My eyes widen…

He is beautiful.

I never really noticed that about someone before, everyone just looked like everyone, but he is completely different. Nothing more came to mind when describing him; his nose is beautiful, his mouth is beautiful, his red eyes are beautiful, his white hair is beautiful, everything about him is on a level of beauty that is hard to put into words. My heart grows warm and starts beating fast; my empty belly began to twist… I couldn't tear my eyes away from him; I have to see every inch of his movements, looking at him feels so good…

I want to look at him forever.

"…So?" One beautiful eyebrow rises.

Hm… Oh!

"I-I-I'm fine!" I shriek, bringing my red face down in shame. I made a fool of myself! Veronica would have laughed at me. My fingers began playing with each other unconsciously.

"…Really?" His voice sang.

"I-I'm…" Then, I actually pay attention to how I was feeling, "Yes…Yes, I'm feeling very well right now, actually."

I'm not feeling a pain anymore, and my body feels really light, like all of my exhaustion disappeared, I'm just a little hungry, and dirty…

So much frozen blood…

Oh!

"Hum… nice to meet you? I'm–"

"I know who you are." He says with a smile, "You're Reiko, the youngest member of the small gang of thieves named Winter Foxes."

"O-Oh, ok hum, how do you…" Then, a pit forms in my stomach as the night's happening come hitting back once more.

My eyes began to be filled with tears-NO!

I-I have to stay calm. I can't freak out now. Onee-sama told me what to do in this situation… I just have to get to the safe house, and it would all be alright… r-right I will just.

"It's gone."

"What?" I…I forget that he was here.

"The Omerta's men burned all. Your emergency safe house is gone."

What…

"How… How could you know that?"

He didn't answer. Just keep the mysterious smile; something deep inside told me that he wasn't lying.

I…

…What do I do…

My knees feel weak, barely capable of supporting me. I have to stay calm. I have to…

Onee-sama…

I drop down to the snow. The tears came pouring down uncontrollably, soon after, a warm body was embraced my own.

I let it all out right there, crying and screaming against him, grabbing his clothes with all my strength.

How long have we been here?

"Feeling better?" He asks gently.

"A little" My throat feels raw. I clear my nose with my hand as he reluctantly let me go. "H-How could that happen?" I don't know why I ask him that, but he seems to have answers.

"That angry looking boy with purple hair betrayed you guys. I think he wanted to become an Omerta or something. He told the Omertas all of your routes and hideouts, so it was easy for them to set up a trap." He said with a pensive look.

What!... purple hair, t-that Big Brother Kou, He… He couldn't have done this.

"B-But, my friends-"

He shook his head.

"Dead, all of them, except your leader, she got captured, I think the Omertas want to make an example out of her, your guys have been a pain in their asses for a long time, so it is likely that will take a least a few weeks for her to die."

All- all of them.

My friends…

My family…

They're all dead.

"NO!" I grab on his clothes. "I managed to run right!? S-Someone might have escaped too, right!? Please!"

He chuckles.

Why did he chuckle!?

"Oh Reiko, Don't you remember?" His hand goes to my face wiping a few impossible tears that had left. "You didn't just run from them. _You slaughter your way through them."_

...What?

I…

What?

"A five-year-old girl…" He slowly got down to his knee, his voice coming closer to me. "Butchered twelve armed Omerta's Devils with her bare hands… _it was incredible."_

I can't…

I can't breathe.

Did I kill them?

T-The blood…

 _PREY._

"AHH!" I throw myself back, hitting the wall behind.

Everything is spinning.

The world doesn't make sense.

I-I can't do it anymore. I just want to wake up.

I just want this night to be over.

"Reiko, listen to me. Reiko," His hand came to hold my face again, my eyes snapped to him, I don't want to deal with this anymore, but his touch is the only thing holding me together. "I need you to calm down. I have a question to ask you."

"I-I'm so sorry, I can't… Everything just doesn't make sense anymore. Just let me rest a little."

"What would you do, if you have your friends back by the end of the night?"

My friends!

"What are you tal-" His fingers silenced my lips.

"Answer my question, Reiko." His eyes were so intense.

…I don't know why, but it feels like that my answer is going to be very important.

"W-we… We would save Onee-sama."

He nods. "Only that?"

"No." The answer came reflexively, I open my mouth to continue, but my thoughts tangled together... What would we do then?

...We.

"What more would you do, Reiko?"

And just like that, the pieces came together.

"Revenge," I whisper breathlessly, feeling the calming movements of his thumb on my wet cheeks. My arms fell limp on my sides, I'm too tired to feel cold, but I could think clearly for the first time since the attack. "We wouldn't stop until we made them pay, even if it takes years to do so, even if it caused our deaths. We would make them bleed."

The most beautiful smile I have ever seen appears on his face.

"I see." He whispers, his hands going to my neck.

That's dangerous, I must always protect my neck, my friend's lessons were very clear on that, but I don't have the strength-

"Aaaaaahhhhnnnn~" A moan escaped my mouth as the wonderful feeling of _something_ spread throughout my entire body, coming from my neck.

My head rises, giving him more access, the odd warmth spreading all across me, it made my heart jump and my toes curl, the pulses of the feeling made me shiver with the nicest sensation ever.

What was that!?

Suddenly, it was over. Only few slight echoes remain, and I try to hold on to what was left the best I could.

"Reiko… open your eyes." He says, and I do so.

…He looked _Radiant._

"I'm going to give back your friends now Reiko, but the rest is up to you."

He is going to…what? I could say anything at that moment, I was too overwhelmed, so many emotions in so little time… could this really be happening?

Finally, I found my voice.

"…Why?" I wanted to ask so _much_ more, but that is the only thing I managed to give out.

"Because life isn't _fair_ , it could take everything you ever loved." A cheerful smile appears on his face, bringing color to my whole world.

 _"But it also could give you everything you ever wanted…"_


	8. Chapter 7

Betas: This chapter was beta'd by eveakane and gaouw at the QQ Forum.

Chapter 7

* * *

Magic is weird.

The memories of my past life held information about hundreds of different 'magical systems' from many different settings in popular media.

High School DxD is one of those settings.

As far as I know, the canon left the technical aspect of magic frustratingly vague; it only said that magic depends on imagination for devils and calculations from humans, but that is coming from a source that hadn't read the light novel and only watched part of the anime.

During my short life, I manage to supplement this knowledge with a more technical approach compared to canon's 'just imagine what you want, throw sufficient power, and the magic will happen'.

Curiously, none of the books I've read or the people that have taught me has put it like that, to them, it was all more technical, with exercises in internal energy manipulation and meditation for honing the mind, and many standard spells. None of them just say that imagination and power are the basis for everything.

However, that does not mean that the canon is wrong.

The act of casting a spell is very much like that; demonic energy acts like a mass and imagination acts like a mold; as long as someone has both of them, they can theoretically do anything…

Well, if it were like that, then a lot of people would be omnipotent.

There were _some_ limits to it.

The first one is power.

That's the most obvious one; a regular Devil wouldn't be able to fully utilize the vast potential of their magic simply because they don't, and most likely never will, have the amount of power necessary to activate it. Spells require more power that scales with its complexity. This forces many Devils who aren't part of the Pillar Clans to rely entirely on magical circles to reduce the amount of energy necessary or to help with the casting. And that's not even taking in accord the next limit: Imagination.

Visualizing something exploding or catching fire is easy, but the more complex or subtle effects requires way more than just that to work, so you have to think in more abstract ways. For example it is impossible to completely grasp the process of teleportation, because this isn't something that naturally happens, meaning that it has no logical explanation to it; if you ask someone to tell how teleportation really works they wouldn't be able to answer because the answer doesn't exist.

But they could give you a theatrical explanation, or even bullshit one on the spot; teleportation isn't a natural phenomenon after all, so they could be right.

That is exactly how you use imagination with magic, you have to create a process for each spell and imagine that you are correct, the next step is to throw power at that thought, and the result is a brand new spell. But that's the thing; I haven't seen it explained out this way anywhere. This explanation is my own conclusion after pondering on the information I had available to me.

Am I the only one who knows about this? I'm mean if it was common knowledge that at very least the Pillars would be a lot more powerful. This is virtually game changer knowledge!

But imagination and power aren't the only requirements for Devil magic.

The last aspect is obvious if you think about it for a second. But even so, I hadn't seen it mentioned anywhere…

That is Willpower.

I'm not talking about the act of willing a spell into existence, you actually only need imagination and power for that. Willpower comes typically into place when that spell comes into contact with another one; for example, if two devils lock their magic in a Dragon Ball Style energy blast contest. On that situation, the one with more willpower is going to win.

It also interacts with different kinds of spell complexities; like if a simple fireball made from just visualization (the most basic form of magic) meets a barrier made from a complex and tightly thought out structure, usually the barrier wouldn't suffer any effect, as a complicated spell trumps a simple spell every time, but with enough willpower behind it, the fireball would break the barrier.

That's a very shounen aspect of this kind of magic; to be able to strengthen even the simplest of spells with your willpower alone, making it many times stronger… Perhaps that's the reason for some of Issei's success, the power up by boobs sounds a bit more plausible now.

But if we considered that logic then my smallest and simplest spells should have been world-ending juggernauts by now, as my Essences had given me _Infinite Willpower_ , but that certainly isn't the case.

You see, willpower isn't a fuel; it isn't an energy that you could voluntarily use to power your spells. Someone's Willpower is an abstract concept; it is what motivates and give conviction, it determines how far you would go to attain your objective, and how long you can go before giving up. You normally can't use it consciously.

But… What if, it _was_ energy? What if, I could make the infinite resource that I have inside into something I could consciously use? What could I do with my magic then?

And what was the energy I knew about, that closely resembles 'Concrete Willpower'?

It was these thoughts that lead me to today.

I was lying on the snow looking at one of the rare clean skies with my arm raised to keep the artificial sun's light from hitting my eyes.

My arm was completely black, with a purple tone from where the light reflected tracing the lean musculature.

Haki… the esoteric energy from One Piece, which was best described as willpower made manifest. Its effects on that world were poorly explained, but the usage was intuitive and straightforward, with many characters showing the capacity to control it; changing the amount, transferring to weapons, combining with other powers, seeing the future and more… It was the reason why my arm was black.

And also the reason for why I'm bleeding from my every pore, and my head is trying to kill me.

…You see... I did it... I turned my willpower into a quantifiable energy, I could feel the very moment that happens, when an abstract feeling become real, when I finally gain access to a source of infinite energy... And that's the problem. I'm not a One piece character, I don't have a normal willpower, I have _Infinite willpower_ , and that apparently means _infinite Haki_.

On that moment my power reached the realm of _infinity_. And it crushed me.

I wasn't prepared to grasp that, on that moment; my mind bulked, my bones shattered, my magic diluted, and I could feel my very soul threatening to pop.

It lasted for a single second before I somehow managed to control the production of Haki and keep it from using all of my willpower.

I almost died.

Not even when I first had my serious fight, had I come this close.

Fuck.

All my ambitions, all my dreams, all my hard work, and all of it could go to waste because of a single mistake.

I almost left mother alone…

The earth shook, a loud booming echo through the forest making the trees bend violently from the shockwave, an enormous cloud of dirt and snow rises closer to me- What?

Oh.

I punched the ground.

I didn't even realize it.

Well, enough brooding for me.

I just got a look at _Infinity_ , the realm of one of the creatures who rule this world. It only took a single second to realize how outmatched I still am.

Thank you very much for the reality check Ophis, I needed this after defeating the most powerful devil in the region, I promise you that I will step up my game.

Now, I have gained access to Haki. Its basic functions are pretty obvious, but I wanted to see how it worked when combined with magic, what would happen using my shadow with it, or if I could enchant something using it.

Besides, I still have two other forms of Haki to 'invent'.

Let's get to work.

-0-0-0-

The first class bullet train sped through between dimensions... Ok, not exactly 'between dimensions' that would mean going through the dimensional gap, and nobody wants to fuck with that. No, the train was passing through a special pocket dimension that connects the different parts of the underworld together and could be modified to go to the human world if it needed.

Just another innovation brought about by the integration of human's invention to the Devils society, and this time combined with the new wave of magic that was invented or improvised by Beelzebub. It certainly made social gatherings a lot easier.

Teleportation is a lot faster of course, but no family is stupid enough to allow a stranger's magic circle to manifest itself in their main manor, so that left us with fewer options to get there. Normally, we would take a carriage, mostly because devils love old school stuff so is considered the most elegant way of travel, but the Sitri's region is quite far from the Dantalion's so we had to take the train if we wanted to get there in time.

That, and the thought of spending weeks in a carriage with Gerhardt makes me puke.

I close the book that I'm trying to read, suppressing a sigh in the process.

I'm bored… Almost to the point of turning on the television and watch the devil's shitty programs.

…It was just a matter of time before I had to do this, during my time was the official heir of the Dantalions, I had used my young age to my advantage and dodged every social event I could, but I couldn't avoid them forever, it would bring a lot of unnecessary attention if I did; my family couldn't pull the sheltered heir card like the Astaroths were doing, there are many eyes watching to make sure the heir of the Dantalions mingle with the _right crowd,_ so to speak.

That's why we are going to the 'Presentation Ceremony' of the Sitri's heiress, where the six years old Sona Sitri will be officially presented to Devil society.

These are the safest kinds of devil's gathering, mostly because of the presence of many young heirs and heiresses in it. I pity the fucker that tries to starts shit so close to so many pillar children; Devils take that very seriously. The purpose of this party is to introduce the heiress into the society properly, but more importantly to have her interact with others heirs and heiresses to start making connections for the future.

I actually lucked out in my own ceremony, because I was the only one there in my age group. The kids present were too old to interact with a four-year-old seriously, leaving behind any tiresome politics and test of character in favor of playing with the adorable toddler. The many heiresses, in particular, had a blast.

It's tradition to present the heir at six years old, wherever they show the House Abilities or not. There is no rule saying that a Family had to do this, and not hide the heir until he or she shows the bloodline ability, and that does happen sometimes, but is _polite_ not to do that if the heir's existence is common knowledge beforehand. And the existence of Sona Sitri is known throughout the Underworld, as a giggly Leviathan showed her on national television when she was barely a month old.

As such, Gerhardt and I are going honor her on such an occasion.

I turned to look at the man himself; he was doing paperwork at some distance from me. Ironically, with me taking every piece of useful information from him and the weekly reports, we spend more time together now that he was adequately bound than before.

That said, his life isn't really much different than before, he still acts like the head of the Dantalion's and fucks around with some maids, but he has to answer to me now, and of course, he isn't allowed to go near mother. She, on her part, is perfectly happy pretending that he doesn't exist.

They hadn't seen each other for more than a year now.

I _could_ torture him and make him suffer from what he did to my mother, but I think the separation is what's affecting him the most.

Speaking of Mother, she 'officially' stayed behind because of her poor health, a typical situation when it comes to her, I was told. She only participates in events that she's absolutely required to go to, which ended up shrouding her in a mantle of a mysterious beauty outside of the Dantalion lands. I heard that it is not uncommon for the devil high society to spend years without a single glimpse of her.

But in reality there is no way that she could handle being separated from me for that long, so she was more than willing to go, even if she could end up facing some painful memories. I quickly solve the matter by leaving an illusion of her behind and put her safely in the storage space for the duration of the trip. With her full consent, of course.

"Elias," Gerhardt's deep voice draws my attention, "Here is the report." He presents me with a small pile of papers.

My eyes narrow at that. He had given me the weekly report yesterday. The only reason that he would give me again today is that something significant happened, or he was withholding information.

My eyes immediately trailed his form, looking for any sign that might give him away. I had become familiar with the telltales signs of Bond degradation over the years. And sure enough, while his posture was mostly relaxed, there was an uncharacteristic tightness around his eyes.

I sigh internally, taking the papers from him. There was the rest of the information of the Devil's business in the region and the human world expeditions.

The Binding Essence had a small limitation when it comes to usage, the text says ' _they will be unlikely to betray you unless horribly abused._ ' So the marked being had a genuine chance to escape if I mistreat them. Over the years I did my best to gauge what _'horribly abused'_ means using Gerhardt and my… _test subjects..._ The conclusion I reached was that I don't need to mistreat someone to cause degradation to the bind actively, all it needs it's for the subject be dissatisfied with its marked state and it would begin to happen, it would certainly take much longer to break, but it eventually would.

Now, that's not much of a limitation at all. It takes disgustedly little to make someone satisfied with his or her predicament if you had the ability to control their level of loyalty to you, but Gerhardt is a stubborn man by nature and is really, _really_ pissed off for not getting to play with his favorite toy, which he actually loved in a twisted way.

Well, if this is what it takes to have him satisfied with his new role, then I guess I have to deal with his Bond degradation until he runs out of usefulness.

He had escaped once, but luckily instead of immediately reporting to Lucifer, he tried to take on Mother, who he thought was the mastermind behind my actions, maybe he drew this conclusion because of the new loyally installed in him at the time. Anyway, on that day, I confirmed that I'm stronger than him.

There was another way to bypass this limit, which is turning him into an unfeeling automaton, and taking away his ability to be satisfied in the first place. This would ultimately stop the Degradation and any resistance from the marked. But I need him to act as the Head of the House for appearances and make decisions without sounding like a robot, so he got to keep his sense of self for now.

And no, I couldn't just order him to be satisfied with his new situation; I tried that, it didn't work… I don't know why.

"… You can go." I said, leafing through the paper; I would have to redo the bindings soon-

He didn't move.

I put the papers down and looked at him more carefully. A small number of twitches started all over his body.

"Is there something else?" I ask firmly.

Immediately, the twitches grew more violent, his muscles bulging, trying to keep him from answering, the veins in his neck get more prominent, and his face became red with the effort. Hm, I _really_ have to redo the bindings

"Yeeeees." He rasped out, the many compulsions taking hold of the body and releasing the rest. "There have been complications during the last mission. Andrei Bogdan is dead."

Andrei Bogdan? Now, where did I hear-

Oh!

I did not expect that.

…That's good news!

"Give it to me" I ordered.

Any fight his body had left fades in the face of the direct order. He quickly takes out the object from his suit's inner pocket and deposited in my waiting hand.

I bought the _Pawn Piece_ close to my eyes, watching as the elaborate spell structure dance with power inside the wine red surface. The connection to Gerhardt's signature is evident among the paradimensional magical patterns that forms the piece. Immediately, my head is bombarded by convoluted spells and enhancements that go beyond anything I have seen until now, as my Essence try to make sense of what I was seeing and sending the way it could be reproduced into my mind. However, even with the constant spring of information I felt like I was only getting into the beginning of a giant puzzle.

Hell, and the thing is still in its dormant state, I can only imagine what would be like in the active state, or even during the activation.

Andrei Bogdan… Gerhardt's old pawn, your death would not be in vain, with this my understanding of magic as a whole would jump a few leagues, and that's not even considering what I could do when I manage to reproduce it or even _Improve_ it.

But first I got to science the shit out-

Ah, fuck!

My workshop is back home, and I can't guarantee privacy in the Sitri's mansion. I would have to _wait_ until we got back, to analyze this wonderful thing with anything more than superficial level readings.

Fucking Hell! Now I would be on edge during the entire trip!

I throw an ugly look at Gerhardt's back, as he moves back to his seat.

A delayed report, and the deliverance of vital information in the most annoying way possible, but not enough to be harmful… it always begins this way, his little rebellions. And the fact is; if I didn't order him to make these gestures whenever his binding started to loosen, I wouldn't have any indication of that ever happening.

I sigh loudly. Then, my voice rings clearly across the big cabin.

"Gerhardt, fall into a trance."

Business as usual.

-0-0-0-

How the hell have I gotten myself in this situation?

"You dare tell me how I should treat my underling, you mongrel!"

"Shut up! Just because you're a little older, it doesn't mean that you can bully him!"

Seriously, I just wanted some peace and quiet after the 'main event' ended and I wasn't required to stay in the same room as the rest of the devil's nobility anymore, so I went to the Sitri's library to see if they got any interesting books laying around. I doubt that I would find anything worth noticing in the public section, but at least it is a distraction from the evil piece and the many experiments that I couldn't do yet.

The first problem; Riser Phenex followed me.

It is actually my third time interacting with the Phenex's son, the first was in my presentation party; at five years old, he was the youngest one there and the closest to my age, he spent the entire time complaining about everything and wanting to go home like a petulant child that he is. A year later we met again in a social event I couldn't bother to remember, he was more full of himself and confident there, maybe because he began to regenerate and fart fire like the rest of his House, the arrogance and superiority complex from canon already starting to show. Again he complained a lot, kept saying that everything was below him and that everyone should be glad to breathe the same air as his or whatever, but then, he insulted me... So, I did the most socially acceptable thing, and punched a hole through his face… Something I would regret almost immediately as he apparently 'acknowledged me' at that moment.

"Bullying? BULLYING?! How dare you, my underling was doing his born duty of entertaining me while I talk about the world's unfairness!"

Our 'friendship' consists of him trying to talk my ears off, and me deadpan things out or ignore him until he goes away. Occasionally I had to retaliate whenever he gets physical, to remind the little fucker of who he was dealing with.

Which lead us to the second problem.

"SILENCE! No matter how you put it, that was bullying, and I can't let this stand! You will apologize to him!"

Minutes ago, Riser punched me in the head for focusing too much on the book and ignoring his glorious lecture. I was about to decapitate the brat, when Sairaorg Bael step in on my 'defense'.

It quickly devolves into a shouting match.

"Apologize! Me!? Riser Phenex! Grrr, you got some nerve trying to tell ME what to do Bael."

"I don't care who you are! You WILL apologize to him, even if I have to drag it out of you!"

Yep, they are going to fight.

A brawl between the pillar's children is nothing new. Actually, they are a popular way for young devils children to bond or test themselves, and to gauge the prowess of future allies or the power of future enemies. So, these fights are not only expected but in some cases even encouraged, because of that, the Pillar's manors were constructed in a way to support all kinds of battle in many of their rooms.

But that doesn't change the fact that this is a library, with fragile and valuable books inside.

"Alright you two, take it outside, if you guys make a mess here, Lord Sitri could-" I began patiently.

They ignored me, of course.

Riser wiped you his glorious flaming wings, while Sairaorg's arms lighted up with two magical circles with the Bael symbol. My Archmage essence taught me the explosion spell in them.

My eyes widen.

Flames and explosion, _in a library!?_

Not on my _Fucking_ watch.

-0-0-0-

 **[XXXXX's Pov]**

I suppressed the urge to sigh.

That would be unbecoming of a Lady, especially now that I'm a proper heiress.

Mother told me about the importance of these next few days. I'm supposed to seek out other heirs and heiresses and make a good impression on them, to smooth the relationships between our families in the future. She even went so far as to distract Big Sister for the evening to allow me to fulfill my first duty as the official heiress.

I have to do this... I... I hear the whispers on the corridors. I have to prove that I don't need my sister anymore! I'm a Pillar heiress!

But alas…

 _"These servants are not properly trained, none of them have offered to lick my foot yet, I can't rest easy knowing that a fellow Pillar House is passing through such difficulties. If you would be so kind as to point me to your torture chamber, I would be more than happy to fix that myself."_

 _"So! You came to admire the great me! I must say it is a pleasure to meet the new Sitri heiress! May your beauty grow to be half of my own!"_

 _"Oh. My. Satans! I can't believe that you're wearing that! That's like soooo last year, Erg! No, If you wanna talk to me, you're gonna have to change, honey."_

 _"WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT! DO YOU WANT TO FIGHT GIRL!"_

 _"Now… hih… If you do it like this… hihih… SEE, hihihi… Look how it squirms! HIHIHI!"_

…they are so dumb and vain, even perverse sometimes.

"Have you seen the way he cried? He brought shame to his entire family."

But at least I have a friend close.

"You shouldn't have punched him like that Rias, I need to connect with the others heirs, not drive them away," I argue calmly... Though to be fair, I would have punched him if Rias hadn't jumped first, but the fact still stands, I have to at least make one new ally for my family today.

"But Sonaaaaaaa, you saw what he was doing with that poor butterfly! And the look on his face… UGR!" She groans at the memory. "And he couldn't even take it; one punch was enough to send him to his mother."

"True, the Oriax's heir was quite an unpleasant boy, but you should have declared your intent to duel him first, to properly convey your grievances." I nobly explain the proper procedure to my old friend.

And she looks at me while trying to hold in her laughter.

"Sona, why are you talking like that? It's so weird." She grins

"… S-Shut up," The face she made was getting on my nerves. "I'm the official heiress now, I have to act like a lady befitting my station, you know." That's what mother told me at least... And something about making up for big sister's…

"Hmm" She looks pensive for a moment. "But I didn't have to change the way I talk even after I became the official heiress."

"That because… because…" I don't know, "Because the Gremory's traditions are different!" That must be it.

"If you say so…" Then she sighs, sending me a pleading look. "Ne~ Sona, let's forget about this already and do something else."

"Absolutely not!" I exclaim firmly, quickening the pace that I was walking, "I must establish a prosperous friendship with at least one more heir, my House's future depends on it!" I'll not disappoint you, mother.

"…Is not that important." Rias mumble from beside me, before raising her voice. "But Sonaaa, you already talked to Seek-chan and me, right? Isn't that enough?"

I… I guess she is not wrong… but who is Seek-Chan?

She grins cheekily, leaning closer to my ear

"We could find your Onee-chan and get her to play pretend with us instead of talking with these weirdoes. I bet it would be a lot more fun."

…That a good idea… I do miss Big sister… Wait.

"Onee-chan? What language is that?"

"Oh, that Japanese I found-OH!" A wide smile appears on her face. "I forgot! Sona, I GOT to show you something I found out in the human world, it's a thing called 'Anime' is like… like a cartoon but _better!_ " She seems really happy about this.

Anime?… Sounds like a mistake.

Suddenly a loud bang echoes through the corridor as the door near us opens violently. We turn to the direction, startled by the sound.

A boy comes running out of the room; he was slightly older than me, with black hair and violet eyes. I had the impression that I seen him before, but couldn't remember where. He stumbles and falls near us.

He looked terrified, his eyes were wide, and he was sweating profusely.

"Sai?" Rias voice comes from my side. Wait, did she know him?

"Rias? It's bad! We have to ru-"

A black tendril thing wrapped itself around his waist and pulled him back into the room, closing the door in the process.

W-what was that!? An enemy attack!? W-we should call for help-

"SAI!" Rias is already at the door.

"WAIT!" Somehow I manage to stop her before she opens, "W-we don't know what's in there, we have to get help-"

"He is my cousin! I can't leave him alone!" Before I could say anything, she opens the door.

...It was the library, something at the back of my mind told me that, but all of my attention was on the hands.

Two big pitch-black hands were rising from the floor, one of them was tightly gripping a fireball (I think?) while the other had the black haired boy around the lower body, and continually moving right and left, slamming the boy on the floor in each movement.

"What are you doing!?" Rias's angry question made me focus again, and then I saw that there is someone between the giants' hands.

The boy turned to face us-

Eh?

…What?

W-why is my heart acting like that?

Absently, I notice Rias gasping behind me…

His eyes…

His eyes are so deep.

He tilted his head to the left (so cute!) looking at us with his big ruby eyes. I hear Rias's badly suppressed shriek.

"…Teaching them… _The pecking order_."

The hand slams the boy again, drawing a painful whine from him.

What?

-0-0-0-

 **[Normal Pov]**

All and all, I had a very pleasant day.

Kid Sona and Kid Rias are very cute, and kid Sairaorg isn't nearly as obnoxious as kid Riser; they had done an excellent job keeping me entertained once everyone calmed down.

But when the night came, I found something _really_ interesting.

I was expanding my shadow through the Sitri's lands to get a feel of the place and compare it to the Dantalion's, but a guest room on the east side of the manor caught my attention.

The first thing I noticed were the many protection and vigilance spells put inside the room, but thankfully, nothing that could stop me from slipping past it. The second thing was the woman in the room, more precisely, her current state, which prompted me to question why anyone thought it was a good idea to move her here, she clearly needs to stay at home, preferably with a doctor on call. The last thing was the fact that I _recognized_ her…

Now, I didn't exactly know what happened to her throughout the years, but seeing her like that… I began to imagine what might. To confirm my suspicions and to better decide the next course of actions, I started to extract her memories from her shadow.

A person's shadow is not a direct connection to a person's mind, but they spend their entire existence connected to one person, so they held a… record so to say, of the collective experience of someone's life, that allows me to tap into the memories stored in there, it wasn't as efficient as a direct mind connecting and it takes longer too, but the process is completely unnoticeable to anyone who isn't a Dantalion.

Slowly, her memories began pouring in… and the situation begins to make more sense.

After about half an hour, I had everything I needed, and was left wondering what to do with this knowledge.

I... Did not expect this.

I didn't have a concrete plan for this; I _could_ do nothing, leaving the woman to her fate, where she will most likely die, this path would change nothing on my current plan of staying holed up in my region and growing stronger, and it would not bring any negative consequences to me or those close to me. Or I could help her; and set out a series of unknown events in the future. This _could_ come to my advantage, I could certainly think of a few ways that it would benefit me, and it would open a few different options... But it would take an immediate risk, as I couldn't help her without revealing some of what I could do.

It could also be a trap… I mean, what are the chances of her _actually_ being here is because her husband likes partying a bit too much, and not because one of the Maous is trying to bait someone. A woman like that shouldn't travel on her state, especially a Devil woman.

It's a stretch, maybe… I don't know. There isn't anything that immediately screams 'trap' to my senses. Most of the guests are still partying; the guards' movements are still the same, nothing strange in the magical sense either, below the stronger than normal defenses on the room…

…And the many _many_ seals placed on her body.

Fuck… So similar…

I rose from the shadow at the corner of the room, casting a variation of the first spell I ever learned, to fool the vigilance magic, and with quiet steps I made my way to the bed. The woman had her eyes on me since I first appeared, but she didn't move a muscle as I approach, choosing to watch me with a curious look instead.

Or rather, she _couldn't_ move a muscle.

I jump on top of the bed to sit beside her, throwing away the expansive bed sheet and pulling up the loose nightwear until it rests just above her breasts, revealing her entire body to me, her modesty protected only by a small silk panty.

She raises an eyebrow at my actions.

My eyes trailed across her form, following the invisible structure of the seals. I was momentarily stunned by the _amount_ of it, definitely missed some of the more subtle ones with my magical senses, and certainly didn't take in consideration the way they synergized together, working to fulfill multiple minors purposes and contributing to a bigger one.

This is a complex seal system, which was formed by centuries of work; it would take someone years of studying starting from zero even to begin to comprehend it. An entirely different league from every seal I have seen or created until now… but my Archmage's Essence still worked as intended… With a single glance, I managed to comprehend the entire function of each individual seal, and the many more they form to interact with each other; every single one was broken down, analyzed and cataloged in my mind, after that, it was a matter of understanding how they worked together and how the structure and placement influenced them.

The entire process took about an hour. I had to change her position a few times to see the seals more clearly, her eyes kept studying me the entire time.

…This woman will be killed soon. That's the conclusion I reach after seeing her memories and the analyzing the seals.

The primary ones, which serves as a base for the entire complex, were put there by Beelzebub himself, right after her first attempt to rebel, after that, her husband began putting more and more in an attempt to subdue her, each one failing time and time again, to the point where he formed a special team of secret seal experts to develop new seals in an attempt to tame her.

It failed. It always failed.

She would fight on every opportunity, binding her time when she needed, sometimes pretending to be broken for years, only to attack at the right moment, manipulating people to aid her when she could, fighting alone when she couldn't; through her defiance she managed to escape many times, and two of her previous husbands now lay dead and buried, but she could never break the primary seals, which led her to be captured time and time again.

More and more her freedom was taken from her, her body stopped responding, her ability began to weaken, and her mind began to cloud… For each seal she broke, two more were placed in its place, no matter how much she fought and lashed out, how much she changed her own mind to escape the influence, the leashes began to overwhelm her.

But she didn't _care_. By that point she wasn't trying to escape or even _live,_ she was just lashing out for the sake of it, to deny her captors of what they want.

It all culminated on a night ninety years ago, when she got pregnant with her first child, for a time she settled down, the potential danger to the baby seems to stop her, her current husband thought he was finally found a leverage against her; Devil women are fiercely protective of their child after all. But in truth, she was only biding her time, gathering her strength to use her ability maybe for the last time. Then she shapeshifted her womb into a slaughterhouse, killing the fetus inside.

It was the first known case of voluntary abortion in devil's history. As pregnancy here is a _really_ serious matter.

The incident was kept secret of course. Otherwise, she would be killed immediately; ruining the entire point of keeping her alive.

But it was the last straw; it was not a private matter of the family anymore, now, the Satans got involved. And Beelzebub once again worked on her personally, increasing the efficiency of all the seals that were put over the centuries, and finished with some of his own creations.

The result was what she is today, a flesh doll, programmed to fulfill every order that was given to her, and with many situational programs to have her act natural no matter the situation. It takes her a few years to shape shift her mind enough to break out the mental hold, but she's still a prisoner on her own body, with the sole propose of birthing the next heir, before finally being disposed of.

Even still, she hadn't given up. She will fight until her last breath, determined to keep her enemies from polluting her Family's Valors.

However…

My eyes trailed down to her belly, her _heavily pregnant_ belly.

She doesn't have much time.

…Let's see what I could do about that.

I finally pulled down her nightwear, after spending nearly an hour unashamedly looking at her body. Her bored eyes focused back on me as she notices that I finished what I was doing.

My hand goes to her neck, the tip of my fingers touching some specific parts of the seals there, carefully sending my energy to take control over the formation; I also take a moment to place my Bind mark, making sure to be entirely unnoticeable for her.

I can't release the seals without Beelzebub noticing yet, but I could work with the minor ones; the ones less connected with the others, whose functions don't affect the primary propose of the whole, I also didn't have to break anything, I could just fool it.

"Speak freely now," I whisper quietly, but enough for her to hear from our close position. The seals obey the command and loosen the hold over her vocal cords, it also affects the lesser seals around it, given back the control of her tongue and most of her facial muscles.

She noticed that immediately, tiny motes of demonic energy starting to seep the area, trying to get a feel of what I did, the motes masterfully move between the seals, never once touching them but somehow analyzing the entire new space, she has gotten good at this.

Her eyes widen as the results began to hit her, especially at the end, when I began to feel very slight, almost unnoticeable shift beneath her skin.

"Pardon my rudeness, Lady Purson," I say in the same tone as before, "I'm Elias Dantalion, son of Araneya Dantalion, I believe you are familiar with her… And I would like to offer you my help.

Silvana Purson considered me for a few moments after that.

Then, a _feral_ smile grows on her face.

"…Well," She pauses, taking a couple of seconds to bask in the euphoric feeling of speaking her own words for the first time in decades, before the burning red eyes bored back into my own. "I _definitely_ did not expect you."

* * *

A/N: Yes Sairaorg tried to use magic in this chapter, I din't find anything saying that he is _incapable_ of using general magic, just that he is incapable of using the power of destruction, the closest thing I found was a post saying that he isn't very good in it. and this is before he find out that he didn't inherited the power of his house, and before his mother told to him to focus on different kinds of strength, so he ins't focused on martial arts yet, and yes he isn't very good at magic, but he can scrap by.

But please tell me if I'm wrong about this, I'll do the appropriated edits if that's the case, I only ask that this is from official information.

Age of the characters

Riser Phenex: 8 years old.  
Sairaorg Bael and Elias Dantalion: 7 years old.  
Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri: 6 years old.


	9. Chapter 8

Beta: This chapter was Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw at the QQ Forum.

Chapter 8

* * *

Enchantments, the branch of magic where you bind a spell to some object, giving it a permanent magical effect, and it _has_ to be permanent, there are many ways to provide a temporary effect for something, but these aren't considered enchantments by Devil standards.

They are also fucking frustrating.

You see, the art of enchantment doesn't use just the regular magic system of the devils race. Turns out trying to bind an abstract effect into a material object is not the easiest thing to imagine and is extremely cost heavy. To remedy that, the art brings together many different methods from many kinds of magic in an attempt to actually make things work, and it succeeded. But it brought many headaches in the process.

The problem is, in the Highschool DxD setting there are countless kinds of magic. Hell, there's practically one for every species, and each one uses an entirely different magical system, with its own set of rules and conditions.

And what happens if they're brought together? Well, the rules clash, usually explosively and lethally, but they also have a tendency to react together to form a new set of rules and conditions that nobody heard before, causing some really unpredictable phenomenons and everything devolves to a clusterfuck from there.

That's not even counting what happens when you try to put a different kind of energy through unknown conditions that were made for yet another type of energy. The demonic one isn't known for its gentle and safe nature. Needless to say when you're playing with the metaphorical Hellfire…

And don't get me started on how some rituals call for external energies to function and require it to meet with the one provided by the enchanter; never mind mixing two kinds of magical energy is said to be an incredibly stupid idea on literally anywhere you look, especially when dealing with the demonic one. But do the enchanters care about that? Fuck no!

In summary, when the bulk of Highschool DxD's magic meets, shit just stop making sense.

Seriously, knowing what I know now, thinking about that little Holy Demonic sword trick that Kiba pulled in cannon leaves me dizzy.

Anyway, Enchantments, the process of making them is long, complicated and doesn't always make sense, but it's definitely a force multiplier.

Accessories that double your strength, daggers that lock the enemy movements, helmets that grants invisibility, elemental swords and more. You don't need to think too deeply to realize how useful it could be to learn how to make these items.

A mere layman would say that they were the same as Sacred Gears without considering the nuances of what a Sacred Gear is really capable of. But, yes, many enchanters take the Sacred Gears as a source of inspiration or even a goal to be reached, and many succeed in reproducing some of the effects of the Gears. However, up to this day none of them had managed to replicate the ability to grow and adapt to the user that is so common among the Gears. Once an enchantment is bound to the piece, it stays with the same effect, on the same strength, until another enchantment or a new version of the old one is put in its place.

But the art of enchantment is not one to scoff at, and due to its mixed nature, it doesn't come as easily to the Devils as their innate magic, so each devil who called themselves enchanters had to work his or her ass off for the title.

That doesn't change the fact that a sufficiently powerful Devil could simply imagine a spell to summon Wordbane! The mighty slingshot which uses _planets_ as ammunition, thus bypassing all the trouble of finding or making a slingshot and going to countless rituals to enchant the damn thing. But that doesn't usually happen, mostly because you will need a city block worth of demonic energy just to summon the shitiest of enchanted weapons, and you actually have to imagine how would that even work, _annnd_ you can't do that in the middle of a fight, as you will need at least a few minutes to wrap your head around the concept.

So no Unlimited Blades Work for me, unfortunately, though some of the noble phantasms, especially considering my advantages over the regular enchanter, are a lot more doable.

My Archmage Essence gives me a considerable advantage over the regular enchanters, not even counting the fact I could break down or reproduce an unfamiliar enchantment after a single glance; my biggest advantage is my Demonic Energy. I came to realize that my energy has the ability to reflexively change its nature to match what I needed at the moment, which wasn't a surprise considering what was written in the 'manual' but what was a surprise was the ability to _partially_ change the nature, somehow imitating two energies at the same time.

Ignoring the disregard for the basic rules of magic and focusing on what it means, basically that means the danger of a 'bad reaction' on the rituals required to make the enchantment were pretty much null, and the result comes a lot more 'pure' than it should be, mostly due to complete lack of any kind of rejection between the energies. That means my enchantments are a lot stronger, flexible, and I could attempt some things that would be suicidal to normal enchanters.

It doesn't change the fact that the enchantments system as a whole is a unstable mess and unnecessarily complicated to the point of being detrimental to itself.

Maybe I should make my own Enchantment System… There's a thought.

"!" The boy next to me let out a quiet gasp of surprise, immediately entering in a battle-stance that would make martial-masters raise their eyebrow in appreciation.

So he finally notices me hm? About time, I was about to run out of subject for mental rants.

"Hey Tyrion" I greeted, waving my hand.

"What the-" he blinks in confusion for a second, but soon his face lights up in recognition, "BOSS!"

I was soon crushed in a bear hug by the, admittedly tall for his age, twelve years old, "Holy crap, you're really here! Where have you been?"

Tyrion, no last name, member of a juvenile gang of thieves formerly named Winter Foxes, now named Foxhound (with no influence whatsoever). I'm not really their boss, that's just a nickname of some sort. I'm more of a sponsor, that comes out of the shadows from time to time and give them friendly pieces of advice.

"Had to deal with something outside the region, but now I'm back. Can you take me to Lyona? I have to talk to her." I ask after Tyrion stopped spinning me around.

"Sure boss, anything for you, but-hum- _I didn't think you would be that fast._ "

he got to work on his deliverance, it still sounds unnatural, but at least he remembered to ask for the code.

" _I had favorable winds on my back_ ," I said trying not to blush from the cheesiness of the exchange, But I guess that's what happens when a bunch of kids and teenagers try to play mafia, at least they can be very serious when it matters.

Tyrion did the impossible and became even more cheerful. Briefly after, he was leading me through the alleys in the direction of their temporary base.

Once we get inside an abandoned factory on an isolated position in the industrial district, I finally see the rest of the crew.

At first, they were eight. A group of eight boys and girls with age ranging from six to seventeen, all scared, confused and recently resurrected. Each one of them chose to galvanize to rescue their captured leader. Now, months later, with their leader recovered and their command structure adequately stabilized, they become a competent guerilla force, all blessed with some aspect of the Warlord's Essence, which alone allowed them to push the boundaries of what they could do.

The weakened version of the Essence didn't make them masters, but it gave the basic knowledge of a style, and an unnatural talent to learn it. That, combined with a bunch of impressionable devil teenagers with a healthy thirst for vengeance, formed a very eager resistance force, determinate to make the Omerta bleed, and with sufficient power to not be pushed around… if someone manages to find them first.

They were clearly preparing for something tonight, the amount of stored weapons, city maps and logistics says so.

My arrival was greeted with loud enthusiasm, the familiar faces lighted up happiness and relief to see me again, way more than I deserved really, I just keep them clothed and fed and warm and safe and tortured them for a few nights to teach them to stand up for themselves nothing much. My presence becomes pretty irregular after we managed to get Lyona back. But still, they regard me with the same enthusiasm as before for some reason, clingy kids.

But the same amount of confused eyes watched me. I narrowed my eyes at that. There are a lot more of them.

Eventually, I manage to detach them from me long enough to get into Lyona's temporary officer.

"So you actually came back, huh?" The scarred sixteen years old scorned. "That was a _bad_ idea." She drawled out, using her single arm to put a cigar on her lips. "Do you know what happens with children like you, when they enter streets like these, Blue Blood?"

The place was dark, its smell like old machinery and industrial reside, the light coming big window behind her framing her form, putting emphasis on her hot pink hair and scarred face, the purposefully torn clothes showing her toned frame. The way she practically growled her words out and the intense look of the single eyes would have anyone on guard. Every movement seems to reinforce the feeling of a feral animal just barely at bay.

Very intimidating.

"WOAH, Big Sis! That was so cool, I nearly pissed my pants right now!" the ever-enthusiastic Tyrion exclaimed on my side.

Immediately she stumbles to the ground.

The children waiting by the door exploded with laughter and encouragement for the fallen girl.

 _"That was a good try, Big Sis, just a little more!"_

 _"You're almost got him this time! Don't give up!"_

 _"Leader girl…Fight on!"_

I silently agreed with them. Ganbatte, Lyona-chan.

"S-SHUT UP, YOU ASSHOLES! THIS TIME IT WAS DEFINITELY NOT MY FAULT!" She suddenly revives, shouting her frustrations at the laughing crowd, before turning to Tyrion.

"And _YOU_ , you dimwit." She grabs him by the head in a painful looking grip. "You're supposed to _guard the door_ when people enter, not accompanying them in like a tour guide, and you definitely aren't supposed to chip in when I'm trying to intimidate someone. You ruined the entire mood!"

"Haha- Sorry Big Sister, you looked so cool that I couldn't help it- Urgg could you let me go now? I promise I would do it again."

She growled for a few more moments before letting him go, moving with her arm to dismiss him while she moves back to her chair. He sends me a thumb up before wisely leaving the room.

The ones listening by the door also went back to their business, leaving me alone with her.

"So, you're back, hm." She reclines on her chair, letting out a puff off smoke. "I actually thought you were gone for good this time. You Pillar people must have better things to do than hang around with street rats."

I never hid my identity, and even if I'm not really a prominent figure to the public, I'm still one of the pillars, figuring out who I am only takes a quick research, especially in the region of my Family. So its not really surprising that she figured it out.

"I'm not planning to abandon you if that's what you're asking, though you could take care of yourself now." I give her a genuine smile. "I'm glad to see you again Lyona."

She stumbles for a second after that, murmuring about cheesy kids with a faint blush.

Lyona was the last to 'warm up' to me, quite understandable when dealing with a mysterious figure helping them for seemly no reason, but she eventually did. One of the factors that helped, beyond the innate loyalty, was my sincerity.

I don't feel the need to lie about my intentions with them. There is literally nothing they could do to harm me or my plans, and I really was helping them merely because I wanted to. So, "Why not?" answers their's or, more importantly, Lyona's question with the truth.

"No, I not planning to do anything to hurt the group", "I'm only helping because I want too and I find it interesting", "No, I'm not manipulating your or even trying to, I just want to see where your guys could go." I responded to each question with utmost honesty.

Lyona warmed up to me pretty quickly after that. I think her innate ability is something related to catching lies, or maybe figuring out intention, at least going by what I've seen of her so far.

"So, why are you here?" She asks, suddenly more serious; she left the last part unsaid…

Has this been any other day, she wouldn't question my appearance; she would probably throw a party after having me back after so many weeks. But me appearing tonight, right when she is preparing for the biggest operation their small gang's ever to have been part of, and directly asking to talk to her personally, she must have figured that it wasn't a coincidence.

"You're about to do something that would affect the landscape of this city, but your actions intrigue me, so I have some questions that would I like you to answer."

"Why the hell are you being so coy about it." She scoffed. "Just ask away."

"What do you want Lyona?" I question calmly.

She looks at me like I was an idiot, "Fucking revenge of course! Did you forget what those bastards did to my family? What they did to me!?" She spat with a barely contained fury; I touched a nerve right there.

"Of that, I have no doubt." She actually looks more intimidating now with genuine fury, than when she tried to scare me. "But that's not all you want isn't it?"

She keeps grumbling in silence. Really, do I have to drag it out?

"If you were really after just revenge, then why are you planning this? This will put you guys in the radar of every family in the city. I get that as a power move, but to seek revenge? No, the best way to do it is to keep it in the shadows, hitting them with strategic strikes, sabotaging their operations, turning their allies against them, provoking their enemies; slowly nibbling them until they crumble while making sure they only realize the true enemy after it is too late. That's the best way." I breathe. "But what you are about to do… this will put you in the 'game', it would give you notoriety and make you guys visible, and while I sure the Omerta's face would be hilarious after that, they would come for you violently. I get it would make your eventual revenge a lot sweeter, but after it, you would still have targets, so why-"

" _Why do I want to make a statement?_ " she snapped.

I stay silent, letting her calm down and collect her thoughts. She stands up and walks to the window, leaning on the frame, looking at the city outside.

"Growing up in this city… it was hell." She started, her eyes lost in memories, "I ran away from the orphanage before they could sell me. On the streets I had to learn how to fight for scraps, how to keep the cold from taking me, how to deal with gang violence and people trying to use me, how to do anything I could just to survive, it was hard- it was fucking hard, and there was no one to lend a hand, no one to offer help." She pauses for another moment to calm her breath again.

"So I said fuck it. If there is nobody to help me, I would be the one to help; maybe I could actually get us, brats, to work together and do something worthwhile. And it worked! We managed to actually do something decent, we got partners to watch our backs; someplace we could retreat at night, and warmth to keep the cold away. But of course, a bunch of children running around in-group attracted attention, and _they_ began to realize that we could be useful…"

"I tried really fucking hard to keep them away, by that point we had young kids with us, and our partners had become family- at least I _thought they had,_ but they kept fucking pushing. Kept asking, kept proposing and we didn't want to deal with that shit, we were small-time thieves, we didn't want to get involved in hard crime shit."

"Then they got pissed, and we went hidden, and that _trash_ rat us out. And I thought I lost my family…"

She turns back to me her face to me. "I…Fuck- I'll never forget what you did for us, thank you- really _fucking thank you_. I never thought I would ever had the opportunity…" her hand moves to hold her nub. "I would give my other arm easily."

"But then I realized, it will never stop, if someone finds out we were alive, hell if some new kid tries to do what it did- this city will eat them."

"You want to clear the city?" I ask.

She barks laughter. "Hell no, I'm not a naïve little girl that thinks everything you end up alright after the bad guys get killed! Fuck no, if the current trash die today, new trash will rise on the next one, that's just a Devil's nature. Hah, 'clear the city'? Fuck no." She locks her burning rose eyes into my own. "I want to _dominate_ the city."

"This Madhouse was going on for too long. These fuckers are too out of control; someone needs to step up and establish some ground rules, some actual fucking standards to the crime in this city, because if I can't get rid of it, then I'll fucking keeping it in check!"

"So there it is! My other objective, after my revenge, which I will get it, I'll insert myself in their game, and dismantle that shit from the inside and make a better one. What do you say about that!?" She was shouting be the end.

"Ok, I will help."

"And just because you're some pillar bull- What!?"

"What the hell you'd expect? That speech got me fired up." I explained, "Besides I will be the head of my Family someday, having a connection with the head of the Capital's underworld will be useful" She doesn't need to know that the Dantalions already had this connection, and for me, this is just moving pieces around.

"Wha- Fuck, I didn't plan for this." She falls on her chair. "I honestly don't know how you could help right now. I wasn't even going to tell you- in fact, why the fuck did I tell you that?"

Because people that I know usually tells me what I want if I push a little… I wonder why.

"Well, I did bring you guys a present that could help with the things tonight."

"Hoh?" she raises an eyebrow at that.

My shadow moved, opening my storage and depositing the big container on the floor, taking most of the office in the process, Lyona becomes even more intrigued by the display but before I start to explain the door bursts open.

We began to slash out to the sudden intruder, but I manage to stop myself after I register who it was, and let the tiny cannonball hit me on the chest.

"ELLY, YOU'RE HERE!" Reika's adorable voice fills the room. Behind me, I hear Lyona trying to stop the summoned fire.

She looks good. After months of healthy diet, rest and new clothes, she no longer had a desperate kid look. Her skin now looks milky instead of deadly pale, her lengthy black hair now looks shiny and healthy, even her amber eyes have acquired a new light. She looks like an adorable girl, who will undoubtedly grow to be a beautiful woman someday, with the bonus of the exotic Asian traits, something of a rarity in this region.

"What didn't you go to me after you arrive, I was waiting for you, you know! No, wait- Why didn't send a letter first!? I-I would have prepared something for you! Natasha is teaching how to cook. You know!"

I open my mouth to respond-

"What. The. Fuck." Hm. Lyona sounded pissed. "What have I told you about busting into my offices like that Girl!?"

"!" Reika seems to realize that I wasn't the only one in the room… and had a look at the burned wreck that was left on the table. "Oh!" She promptly releases me and bowed to the fuming woman. "I deeply apologize for frightening you, Onee-sama."

"Fright- I wasn't frightened!"

The door burst open again even louder than before, Lyona let out a curse.

"Reika WAIT! You can go in yet- Oh!" Tyrion's face greeted us.

"FUCKING HELL! I WAS JUST TALKING-"

While Lyona tries to pop Tyrion's head like a watermelon, I turned my attention back to Reika, having long since grown accustomed to the shenanigans- wait.

"Your hands…" Reiko noticed my attention; her expression becomes of absolute delight.

"I don't need cuffs anymore!" She exclaimed. Then jump back to me and started to nuzzle my chest. "I can hug anymore I want now!" her voice comes muffled by my shirt.

"That's great, Reika… Congratulations." I said, my own voice was affected by the warmth I felt inside, making her sigh happily against me.

When Reika's ability, her _Killer Instinct_ , activated she has no control over it, and it started to affect her conscious mind, slowing filling her head with the best way to kill everyone around her. It became so severe that eventually, the way to kill had become the first thing her mind processes upon meeting someone else. It was… a stressful month for everyone involved, even if I still thought that it was a fucking cool ability. Anyway the temporary solution was to lock her up completely when it was one of the worst moods or keep her in cuffs when it was a good mood.

I tried to help of course, but actively messing with a Devil's innate ability is really fucking hard, and almost downright impossible, at least without fucking them up on a fundamental level. The best I could do was keeping her company, and softening the effect on her mind.

If she doesn't need cuffs anymore… Either she learned to control it, or she became really good at _not_ killing people _._

"Oh man, what's that?" Tyrion wanders around to the container.

"HAVE YOU EVEN BEEN LISTENING!?" Lyona put her hand over her eyes and groan. "Why do I even bother?"

I smile at them "That's something that I brought to you guys, open it up." That got the attention of both Reika and Tyrion, the former moving from our embrace to have a better look and the later acted just like a kid in Christmas and tore open the metal top, which was heave enough to give an adult human trouble.

"WOAH, That's so cool!" Tyrion reacted to the content like a kid of his age would.

The container was packed to the brim with an arsenal of different weapons, all neatly organized on their own categories, and the first thing one would notice was the sheer quantity of them. I put every type I could think of that was smaller than a pole arm, and if they dig deeper, they will find the Kevlar armors I prepared, all made with the size of teenagers in mind.

Lyona whistled appreciatively, coming close to inspect the merchandise. "Damn, Blue Blood, if I knew you would bring something like that I wouldn't have sent those raids," She snaps a broadsword from Tyrion's hand before he could cut himself while ignoring his weak protest. "Are these Castle forged right, none of the crap-tier shit that we have around here- _Lucifer's Balls!_ " Her eyes widen as she finally noticed the distinct magical feeling on the blade. "Is this a demon sword!?" I see her energy pass through the blade as a test; it causes some sparks to fly off. She quickly takes another one doing the same thing, this time the blade gained a purple tone. "Are they _all_ Demon swords!?"

I try to suppress my grin at her reaction. A Demon sword is a special kind of enchanted weaponry; they differentiate themselves by receiving the enchantment throughout the process of their creation. In fact, the entire forge process is a big, elaborate enchantment ritual- one of the most refined and sophisticated on the Devil's kind too- the result is a weapon that are several leagues above a standard enchanted weapon. They receive the name 'Demon Sword' because of the aspect they take from the energy used to make them. They don't need to be a sword _per se_ , it could very well be a shield or an armors made in the same process, but devils care more about their offensive weapons.

The art of forging a demon sword is a closely guarded secret between the 'devil's blacksmith' community, which only a few actually able to make them. Just for that they are very valuable and not something commonly seen, I hear even that even the weakest of them could fetch a pretty big price on the market… and yes, it also means that Kiba's Sacred Gear is Hax.

"I asked my father to make them. Do you like it?" An innocent lie, but Lyona was too stunned to notice. In truth, I cheated. As always, they aren't Demon swords, just normal enchanted weapons, however, due to my advantages when it comes to enchantments, their quality was so high they might as well be.

"I- Fuck- Elias- Just what the fuck should I say about that." She sputters.

Well, you could say 'thank you' to begin with…

"Hum…" Reika makes a troubled sound, inspecting the content closely like she was searching for something.

"What wrong Reika, having trouble to choose?" I ask, admittedly feeling a little prideful for my creations, "I think a dagger would fit you the best." Pretty sure I made some based on Fate's Jack the Ripper.

"Ah, n-no Elly, they're fine…It just…" Her voice grows quieter, but I manage to catch the rest. "Do-Does it have guns?"

…What.

"Guns?" I repeated.

"Y-yeah, Like-" She started less timidly, her eyes taking a very passionate light, and her little arms gesturing as she speaks. "Like that pistol that has a rolling thing on the side, Or-Or that one that one that you have to pull that thing and it make a 'Chakchak' sound, like on the human's films! Do you have those?"

I hear Lyona sigh.

"Human guns are just not effective Reika, haven't we talked about this?" She explains patiently but with an underline with frustration in her voice.

"I…I just think they are cool." Reika muttered helplessly, lowering her eyes to the ground.

…Lyona is right, due to a Devil having a tougher than human body; you would need something with a really high caliber or a machine gun to even begin to affect them. Small arms and single shots are just a distraction at best, useless if they hit the eyes or something, they are not really effective against a Devil. Even the ones that are could easily be countered with a simple magical shield, they kind of start at the level to stop bullets, and everybody and their mother knows how to make them.

…But, an _enchanted_ gun… I hadn't really heard anything about that, but if I remember correctly, that crazy exorcist from canon used a gun at first, so it could work.

A magical fucking gun, maybe the bullets too…

I like it.

 _I really liked it._

"Don't worry Reika," I put my hand on her shoulders; my voice must be matching the younger girl's passion because Lyona sends me a weird look. "I will get you a Magic Shotgun," I announce magnanimously.

I could practically see stars in her eyes.

-0-0-0-

" _Rankyaku_!"

The vicious arc of compressed air cut a deep trench on the rocky ground, flying at my opponent at breakneck speeds, leaving a trail of dust and detritus along the way.

The arc loses its from before even getting close, the dust raised was blown away by a horizontal tornado that forces me to jump away from my early position.

Nothing related to wind is going to work against her, huh?

Belinda moves onwards, the air around her enhancing her movement, with just two steps she crosses the distance between us, her rapier moving to pierce my neck while a dozen small magical circles in the Dantalion's structure manifested above her shoulder, the wind begging to spin in drill-like formation around them.

She's good.

As my clone is having many holes open in his body, I appeared right behind her like a Bleach character and made my attack. The wind surrounding me suddenly becomes dense, slowing my _Shigan_ enough for her to dodge; she immediately twisted her body in my direction, bringing the thin blade with her.

I am slowing piecing together the new aspects of her fighting style. She makes improvements in it every time with spar, bringing something new to the table each time. This time seems to be a continuing spell that makes the air around her act against projectiles and enemies who come close, and also seem to tell her about the position of the body by the disturbances in the atmosphere. It's a very welcome addition to her arsenal, and it complements the rest of her moves very well.

This time, I move the trajectory of the volley of attack with my palms, moving my body in the wave-like movements of the _Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist_ from One Punch man. She clicks her tongue at her inability to land a hit and begin to change strategies, but she catches the glow of my own Dantailion's style magic circle below our feet's. She manages to jump always just before the rock spikes burst around me.

Belinda's style consists of continues movements; whether she is attacking, evading or using plain leg work, she is always on the move and preparing the next trick. She is the type that thrives in the open space of the rocky pocket dimension we are training at, and she is taking every advantage.

She also doesn't fall into the regular categories that the regular devil falls into. They either stay back and focus on heavy casting or abandon casting all together and focus on melee. Belinda uses a heavy spell when she gets in the distance, and while they could do significant damage she uses them more as a distraction to close the distance, at melee range she continues to cast small quick spells to complement her skills. And she also doesn't entirely rely on only the spell she puts of the circles, like many, _many_ Devils mistakenly do, so it would catch a lot of people by surprise when they expect every spells to come from a brilliant, easily seen circle.

I noticed that she would never be able to pull that off without the fast growth of her reserves from the Archmage Essence and the rise in potential provided by the essence of Blank. The 'incentives' I gave her also helped.

I fully believe she could ace the High-Class Devil exam if she wanted to.

Wind blades now. Thin, fast wind blades that were sent from her rapier as she circled around me, the blades forcing me to dance around in place. I got a cut on the cheek when I trip from the momentary surprise at the apparition of a _feeling_ in my head telling me where I need to move, could it be?

She- Uh oh!- finished the magic circle she secretly made on the ground when I was distracted.

Suddenly my vision blackens as I was pulled from all sides as the entire area around me becomes a vacuum.

Sparring with her is… complicated, not because of the fights, no, the fights are awesome, and it gets me a lot of experience against a smart opponent. No, the problem is justifying the fights.

Belinda's head is weird. While she is coming close to see the reality of the house for what it is, there are still some tweaks to be made to her common sense, mostly on my power level, they need to get from: ' _This seven years old is pulling some shit that is downright impossible and fighting me on equal footing, something's not right'_ to ' _Oh! Young master is a prodigy. Of course he is capable of throwing meteors around, that's perfectly normal._ ' These days I make a mental adjustment on her before and after each spar, just in case.

Maybe I'm too paranoid, but I recently found out about a species of invisible hellbeasts that eat faces, so yeah.

My body is strong enough to withstand the vacuum, even if her magical energy made the effect more hazardous than normal, but she already knows that, meaning this is just a distraction for something bigger.

I smile eagerly, bringing my hand together and forming a brilliant white Magic circle.

Bring it on.

-0-0-0-

We are currently lying together on a destroyed landscape while the pocket dimension unravels around us in a cool looking effect.

She is lying on the ground with limbs spread wide, trying to catch her breath, and I was using her exposed midriff as a pillow.

We are just enjoying the afterglow of the fight.

It's hard to explain the feeling a Devil gets when we have a good fight, and I mean a _truly_ good fight. It doesn't have any human counterpart to draw a comparison from, being something that only affects our battle-oriented race. Trying to put some contest using my human's memories, it's like… the feeling you get after a nice workout, mixed with the feeling after having sex, with a touch of a weed, and everything cracked up a notch.

It's very intimate.

"Damn Elly. You're a monster, you know that?" She breathes out.

"You're also fucking awesome." I lean my head to the side to let her hand reach more places.

I don't think she realized that she is playing with my hair.

"No, like, how old are you again? I'm, like sixty-something, and you're already at my level. You're making me look bad." She lets a laugh.

"Hey, don't sell yourself short," I began to nuzzle her toned belly because fuck it, it was warm. "You're a peerage-less reincarnated devil who was raised to be the most trusted member of a pillar household through skill and power alone, without any connection whatsoever." I let you a yawn…Wasn't I talking about something? Oh! "And- And have you tried to compare yourself to where you were a month ago to now? Your growth is like, insane."

"Aw Elly, You think I'm the most trusted member." I don't think she heard the rest…Whatever. "You're really nice Elly just," She yawns "Just keep up like that."

"Thanks, you're really nice too Linda…" Warm flesh against my lips, and I kiss and nibble. Tasty.

"Ah∼…That's nice, keep going." I could feel the small shivers under her skin.

"Everything is nice…"

"Yeah…"

The sound of applause draws our attention. We immediately jump to standing position after realizing that we were a bit too gone on the Post battle high. We were battling in the training room and -What!

Hmm… Ok.

What?

I hear Belinda let out a girly yelp beside me; she also was completely mesmerized by the vision.

"You two were incredible!" Mother gushed, barely holding the urge to hug us. "There were so many spells! And, and, the movements were so fast, UGH! Elly and Linda are the Best!"

Ah… Um right, ok, I knew she was there since the beginning but…

"Mother, why are you wearing that?" I didn't even try to keep my eyes from homing as that's impossible.

To be fair she wasn't wearing anything special, just a female version of the training garb just like Belinda. But well, skin-tight shorts on her ample hips that hugged _everything_ , a delicious midriff exposed to the world, the biggest sports bra that I've ever seen pushing her titans together - seriously where did she find the bra? - Finished with her hair tied in a high ponytail.

She noticed me looking because of course, she did.

"Why Elly, do you like it~?" She bends forwards, presenting _The Cleavage_. I hear the sound of Belinda's hand meeting her lower face beside me, probably trying to contain the blood.

Not gonna lie, I was nearly there myself.

"No seriously, why are you dressed in training clothes?" Concentrate man.

"W-well," She began with an uncertain tone, "It just, Mommy has been watching Elly work so hard and everyday, a-and Linda has become so strong, I," She raises her eyes looking decided about something. "I will work hard too! I want to be strong too!" We didn't say anything for a few moments after it, so Mother scratches the back of her head looking more uncertain. "Erg-Um I-I try very hard?"

"Sorry, we are just surprised, right Belinda?" I look at the maid, and she nods her head. "I-Its ok mother, you can train with us if you like."

"YES! Hehehe, I'll be in your care!" she beamed pumping both her firsts in the air.

That's good, right? She is being proactive about the things she wants, and- and this is about something that doesn't involve me in any way, this is purely from her.

I really didn't expect that, but well, it can't be a bad thing. I feel a smile growing involuntarily, the thought of sparring against mother…it feels warm.

"Alright, mother!" Now I'm beginning to feel excited. "Would you like to spar with me?"

"Oh! Um," She gives me a troubled look, "M-mommy doesn't think she could handler spar with you Elly, I-is just," She looks at her fists, seems to think about something, then going a bit green before shaking her head, "Mommy definitely can't spar with you Elly sorry!"

Oh.

"...Ok."

And then she flips for some reason.

"AahHH!" She immediately moves to a kneeling position in front of me and grabs my shoulders, "No, NONo, no. Elly, Mommy sorry! I-I will make up to you later Ok. There will be hugs and kisses! Lots of it! And Milk! A lot of milk, just d-don't be like that!?"

Be like what?

This woman is not making any sense…

"It's alright mother. I get it, I really do." I tried to comfort her.

I did not succeed, in fact, she seems to grow even more distressed, her eyes widen even more, and her pupils shrunk. Now I'm beginning to worry.

"It's …its… was a bad idea! Mommy doesn't really want to spar! SHE WILL TEND TO HER BABY'S NEEDS RIGHT AWAY!" With a swift movement, the bra comes off.

And Belinda is knocked out by a severe nosebleed.

This is getting too silly.

"G-Get your shit together woman! I said I'm Fine!"

After nearly an hour of cheering her up, and get some milk in the process of course. She finally began training.

She was…not bad.

And that wasn't sarcasm, she really was better than I thought.

Make sense really, she received the same training typical of a devil from a Pillar family, and her ancestry made her body stronger than a regular Devil. In the past, her strength was hard to pin down because of her natural 'stats' juxtaposing with her skill, she never quite managed to hit the Middle class, always staying on the upper ends of the lower class. Now, she has the full benefits of all my Essences to back her up (she is the only one I shared them all with) and is able to fully utilize her shadows for the first time, which is a big thing, not just power wise, but morale-wise.

She was still rusty though, really rusty.

I watch was Mother send a series of shadow whips to strike Belinda, who easily avoid it, still fighting more to gauge Mother's power than winning. Mother on her part didn't even care she did not hit; she was delighted to be able to use the spell.

Belinda was clearly the best choice to train her. Unlike me, she actually has experience in training someone else, regularly training the rest of the battle maids to her new standards of the week and even offering practice to the other maids.

So yeah, she is the best choice after all.

...I'm not jealous... Shut up!

I watched the spar unfold before me, debating wherever our not to let the child inside come out and cheer for Mother as loud as I could.

Until the maid who was coming to this room finally reached me, I ran a series of magical scanners on her just to be sure.

"You have new mail, young master," The maid says politely; hold a silver plate with two letters inside, one bigger than the other.

I quickly take the letters, a feeling of sincere excitement appearing in my chest.

"Thank you, you may leave." I have an idea of what it is, making the excitement inside only grown.

And it arrived in record time too, the summoning department usually takes a week to send the license, maybe it's because I'm a pillar, and getting the license is less 'fill the form, pay the price and go through the process' and more like 'why the fuck have you guys not sent mine already?'.

With this, I would be able to 'officially' take contracts, but more importantly, it gave me an excuse to go to the Human World. The. Human. World!

The land from my memories, the land of quality anime and games, of Internet! I-I'm a little excited to finally go there, that place is brimming with imagination.

I'm a little young to be already taking contracts by Devil's standards, but fuck it, if anybody asks, I'd have Gerhardt say he is only preparing me for the future.

I tear open the one more likely to contain the license and- It's in French!?

 _Dear Loyal Minion._

 _REJOICE!_

 _As of the time you read this letter, you officially gained the title of 'First Penpal of the glorious son of the House Phenex, RISER PHENEX!' Your nomination ceremony will be conducted on the next time I grace you with my presence._

 _Your duty consists of making a proper response to each and every letter I send, and always give a update of your current affairs and state of health, for it is my own duty to be aware of every single trouble my subjects may face, so that we may gauge the proper amount of force necessary to destroy it._

 _On further good news, my family decides to partake on the mysterious human ritual know as 'Birthday' and on the end of this spring, we will be conducting one for my esteemed little sister, RAVEL PHENEX!, so that she grows fierce and beautiful._

 _Added to this letter is document cordially inviting you to such an occasion, don't worry my minion; I assure you that you more than worthy of such honor, no matter how unsuited you may believe you are._

 _This letter also contains the first one of my many rants you will be receiving; I expect a response within the week. MAY OUR PENPALSHIP BY PROSPEROUS FOR THE MILLENIA!_

 _Now, without further ado let's move on to the good part-_

The fuck is this!

Riser!? What the hell kind of joke- wait.

I turned to the second letter; this one is in German and- Sona Sitri!?

Just.

What?

I don't-

"What's the meaning of this?"

"I believe these are letters from your friends, Young Master." Belinda remarks from my side, her voice dripping with humor.

Friends? I have friends!?

What- Wait, when did she get there?

I turn to say something to her when I feel the letters being snatched out of my hands.

What now!?

Guh!

Mother held the letters close to her face, her eyes taking the sentences at a fast pace, her breathing accelerating was she read the words. Then she looks at me, her shocked expression quick turning into one of pure joy.

Oh dear.

The long, shrill, happy scream left my ears ringing for hours.

-0-0-0-

In some aspects, Devil's babies and Human's babies are pretty similar.

Their mental development is around same speed, and they learn things around the same period, only after two years the difference truly begins to show, with the devil baby beginning to feel the natural instincts of our race and the emergence of his or her first urges. However, on the purely physical aspect, things go a little different; Devils are born with a vastly stronger body than the human's, meaning that Devil's babies aren't as nearly a fragile, they're already born with a body strong enough to walk and with senses developed enough to see and hear perfectly. They still have to learn to do those things of course, but it's safe to say they have a head start.

That's why the baby in front of me is able to sit upward, support her head and play with toys, even though she is barely a month old.

She's cute; short red hair, big ruby eyes, bottom nose, doesn't cry much but likes attention a bit too much. Good baby, I approve.

Her thoughts are also _fascinating_. She isn't old enough to have anything too complex, so a lot is just emotion and instinct, but I'm probably the first person in the history to have a proper reading of a newborn still-forming deep thoughts.

I also got to watch her grow, and carefully inspect the effects of bearing a Binder's mark since birth.

I'm sure it will be interesting.

"Mirabelle Purson," Silvana's voice draws my attention, "If you want her, she is yours, but you can only take her after twelve- no, ten years. It's my responsibility to raise her to be a proper Purson lady, or I would fail my ancestors.

I didn't dignify her with an answer to that.

"Let's focus on keeping you alive first, Lady Purson."

We are currently in the Purson's Castle ballroom. The only reason Silvana chose this room, in particular, was that it had enough space for her to practice her dance-like combat style, taking away the rust that her body accumulated over the decades… And just relish in the act of moving freely. I was sitting in the corner keeping Mirabelle entertained.

Taking control of the Purson Castle was relatively simple. All Silvana had to do was add me to the Purson's magical circle, after that I teleported here every night and immediately jumping into the shadows. This left me in touch range to the entire castle and its staff. Then, it was just a matter of binding them one by one, and I didn't even have to fully get out of the shadows to do it, I only need to slid out my arm out of the closest shadow and touch them.

I started with her husband, Meinrad Purson, of course.

"Yes, that would be a problem." She cuts the air with a high kick, before continuing. "I suspect they are keeping me around until my daughter shows her ability, after that, they will get rid of me and begin corrupting her."

That is most likely the case, but I also made sure that nobody would try anything on Mirabelle's birth.

"I don't suppose that you could prevent them from trying anything with that curious seal of yours?"

"Not without raising some questions."

"Figures."

She makes a complicated series of movements, stopping at the tip of her naked feet, with the limb spread. The style isn't even close to being fully realized. It was meant to be used together with shape shifting, but the physical part of her ability is locked though. It didn't depend on commands to function, so I couldn't just hijack it as I did with the others. And obviously, I couldn't destroy the seals because Beelzebub put some alarm there in case that happened. Maybe I could do something if I try, I was getting some ideas by watching her, but I don't trust her enough yet, maybe in the future.

She approaches the small table that we brought into the room and grabs a water bottle and a towel. The short dress hugged her sweaty body tightly - damn I forgot the wonders of short skirts, too much time among Victorian Era fashion. Maybe I should get Mother something like that.

"No other way then, I will have to escape and take my daughter."

"They would certainly find you, the pursuit would be fierce, especially if you take her." And that never worked before, I saw in her memories, but she doesn't need to know that. "And I wouldn't be able to help you; the Dantalion aren't prepared to take on such risk."

"Bah! 'Fraid to take a little risk, Typical." She grunts angrily, "So what do you propose?"

"You could just die." She groans again. "I told you, you would not be truly dead, I could bring you back instantly."

"Even if this was true, which is fairly fantastical to believe, it would leave my daughter with them, and the Purson's tradition would be forever tainted, this is not acceptable!" She grew angrier the more she thought about it.

Mirabelle began whining, reacting to her mother's mood; I pull the little ball of cuteness to my lap to calm her down.

"The only way I can think then," I began cradling the baby, "Is to appeal to the Satan's mercy, I would make sure that Meinrad gave nothing but good reports, about how motherhood changed you. That you are willing to behave for the sake of your daughter, that you would not cause trouble anymore. That might not get you free, but it could keep you alive."

"Grovel before the Satans, hmm?" She mutters darkly. Leaning against the table, "That could work. They have become so soft now, that it's almost a joke. However, that's not for certain, I do have a track record."

"It's better than nothing. As things stand, they don't see to worry about you for now, at least they are not pushing anything yet, and you now can move freely, at least inside this castle. We should have a bit of time to think things through."

Mirabelle is almost asleep now, she is going down fighting, but she still a newborn, so it shouldn't be long.

If you analyze this coldly. I don't really need Silvana to take control of the Purson Family influence, I already marked everybody, just a few more weeks working on their capital city and they should be tightly under my power, I actually don't need to help her now, but still, I kinda want to.

I was still mulling on the possibilities when her voice broke my stupor.

"We could use the idiots of The Old Satans faction. They always happily agree to anything that might annoy the Satans."

"Wait, you have contact with the Old Satans faction!?" Mirabelle moved a little because of my outburst.

I quickly review what I got from her memories, and sure enough, there was something.

"I run into them from time to time, usually when I escape, and there have been some maids and butlers who were sympathetic. Like I say there are more than happy to invest in anything against the Satans, so I thought, why not, our objective does align on the moment."

"You're not a-"

"Member? Fuck no; they are a bunch of retards that don't even realize how suicidal their objective is. It would make more sense if they just want to rule the Underworld again but to actually restart the war! That's just plain stupid, devil kind doesn't have the strength for that anymore."

"…What do you know about them?"

She sends me a toothy smile.

"Ooohh, interested, little Dantalion? I advise against it, much like devil kind, they are a shadow of their former selves. And many are pretty boring too! Full of old men grumbling about the 'old days' and whatnot."

She held against my glare for a moment before conceding.

"Alright, in truth, I don't know a whole lot, just have some contacts. I could guess some big names who might be members based on what I know but beyond that nothing much." Then she went back to doing katas.

The Old Satan Faction… in truth I don't know what to do about them, my first reaction is to ignore them entirely. They don't do anything significant that I know of until canon, and I should be capable enough by then to not need anything that they could offer, but… Well at least knowing the names of devils dissatisfied with the current government would be nice.

"Oh! One more thing." She called, pausing in her exercise. "I know that they have approached the Pillars families who were… Forcibly converted to new ways, that's why they came to talk to me. Don't know about your family, though."

That makes sense; if there were anywhere, they would find support is with theses Pillars. The other Pillars stay the hell always from them because they are political suicide, at least officially. Currently, besides the ancestors of the Old Satan, who everyone pretends they weren't, the majority of their members are from Extra or Branch houses and anyone else they manage to convert.

"And speaking of the Dantalions." She began coyly, pretending to focus on the movements, but I knew her attention was on me.

Sigh… I saw this coming.

"How is my dear friend Araneya?"

They have never been friends, their relationship was hostile since the beginning. With Silvana taking her frustrations on Mother and making her feel like trash in general. As they grew older it mellowed down a lot, but she never respected Mother and always thought her unworthy of the title of Pillar. And Mother, by her part, didn't think much about Silvana, she was in a relationship with _that woman_ during this time, and was too lovesick to care about any animosities she might have had… and anything else really.

I noticed just now, that Mother is really bad at holding grudges.

Silvana and Mother aren't friends and usually avoided each other, so what's her angle?

"She is fine…. She wasn't fine, but she is better now, kinda like you."

"Like me, hmm…" She mutters. "That's not quite how I remember her." then she turns to look at me with a sideways glance.

"Tell me, did she even try to resist, or just bend over and toke it?"

Oh. So that's what this is about.

*Sigh* this woman is so childish…

"Do not doubt my Mother strength Silvana; she is stronger than you imagine." In more ways than one would think.

"Oh! What a surprise! So she finally grows a spine." She pauses in her form, and puts a hand on her chin. "Now, I really want to meet her again, her tits were always quite memorable." She laughs to herself, before looking at me with malicious eyes.

"Hey, Dantalion Boy. Did you know..."

" _I always wanted to fuck her?_ "

I sighed... Ok.

 _ ***Crash***_

It was a testament to the strength of the walls of this castle, the fact she only passed through four rooms before stopping. This event goes entirely unnoticed by anyone in the castle, as they fulfill their sacred duty of _sleep for eight hours._

I gently picked up a crying Mirabelle, who was woken up by the loud sounds. I spend a few minutes to calm her down, and with quick, gentle spell put her back to sleep.

Good Baby.

Then I finally made my way through the holes.

She was already out of the wreckage by the time I reach her. Staggering her way forward with deviant eyes, but it's somewhat difficult to stand upwards if your abdominal area is crushed.

She falls to her knees, vomiting another mix of gore, her face twisting with rage.

Silvana Purson isn't one to bow down and follow someone unquestionably; I already expected some for some kind of text to gauge my strength, but I admit, I let her provocation get into my head a little. I'm actually surprised; I thought I would last longer.

Now, that left us in a complicated situation. I could subdue her without effort, most of her powers are still locked, and without her shapeshift she can't struggle off injuries like that one, but this isn't the point. If I just subdue her now, the question of if I could do it with her true strength, would always remain, so no, I can't just subdue her.

I have to dominate her.

For the first time in my life, I let out the full weight of my demonic power to the outside.

Silvana Purson fell boneless to the floor.

I wonder what she perceives right now. For me, nothing really changed; just the familiar feel of my power that usually stays inside now covered the entire atmosphere. I have not directed all upon her, I didn't want her death; I just want to show the difference in strength.

There is no anger transmitted in my power. There is only _utter indifference._

She makes an effort to move, but her arms and legs only wiggle awkwardly on the ground, she tried to talk but only let out unintelligent groans, her eyes moved in every direction, but she couldn't focus on anything.

She stops moving when I squatted close to her.

"Never speak of my Mother like that ever again, or I will squash you."

...This will not be enough to make her submit.

This is a woman who fought against the world for centuries, with no one to back her and only her tenacity to keep her going. How many times has she been in this same position? In her face pushed to the ground by someone stronger than her. Did it work on any of these times?

Honestly, if they couldn't tame her like that, I don't think I will.

But I have something that her captors don't have: The Control over Her loyalty.

I intensely studied the effect of my 'control over loyalty' over these past years, it's literally the most important aspect of my Bind, and it's the thing that keeps it together. One of the things I found is that the brain will connect a sudden burst of loyalty to a specific action in the right circumstance, that will make the subject see the action was something positive or suitable for their standard, even if the action brought only harm or was against the subject's morals.

So, as I suppressed my magic and allowed Silvana to breathe again, I greatly increase her level of loyalty and let her brain do the rest.

She painfully brought her upper body upward, spitting out more blood in the process. I could see in her eyes trying to make sense of what just happened.

Before a deep shiver made her body shake.

She finally raises her head to look at me. Her mouth slowly opens with a bloody smirk; her eyes were a mixture of curiosity and respect, with an almost unnoticed speck of desire.

"Ironic" she licks the blood of her lips. "Who would have thought that cute bunny would give birth to a tiger."

-0-0-0-

 **[XXXXX's Pov]**

"You!? You are the girl everyone is afraid of? Give me a break!"

"Look at her dumb face man. She's not that scary."

"Maybe we should teach her a lesson, and-and then we would be the Witch hunters! That sounds awesome."

"So what you going do Witch-girl? You gonna cry?"

Pathetic.

Four worms decided to annoy me today.

They all look older than me, perhaps on the 8th or 9th grade; I'm pretty sure I saw the one on the right talking to the Mashar yesterday. So that might explains why they followed me to the forest today.

Annoying, they are not worth my time.

"Hey, are you listening? Or are you too dumb to talk." The leader comes forward and grabs the collar of my coat.

The магия* in the air was thin and stale today, maybe because _he_ hasn't come out of the house much lately, meaning that I would have to do an even more complex series equation if I want manifest a Circle. And these bugs aren't worth the trouble.

Lucky, I have other ways to deal them.

 **[Eye Open]**

 _The young boy grabs the young girl by the collar of her coat._

 _In truth, the young boy, like many others habitats of the small town prefer to keep distance from the younger girl. Her cold blue eyes and uncanny presence intimidates him as it does to the rest, but a proposal from the daughter of the wealthiest family in town was enough to defeat that fear in favor of a quick buck. The amount of roubles*_ _he and his friends would receive would be enough for countless hours at the arcade, or maybe even a brand new game console._

 _He feels his confidence grow as the girl on his grasp shudders in fear; her normally emotionless blue eyes acquired a terrified apprehension of what would happen to her._

 _It was oddly intoxicating to him._

 _"How would you like this!" He swings his first to the girl's nose, one of the things the wealthy girl was jealous of for some reason._

 _His fist hit her face with a loud meaty sound; it was one of the best punches the boy had ever thrown._

 _His first shattered the girl's skull._

 _The boy and his friends stand petrified, as the blood and pieces of brain matter splash on their clothes. They stay where they are, none of them moving a muscle, too shocked to process what just had happened._

 _But then before their very eyes, the girl's lifeless body began to contort violently on the ground._

 _And they watched helplessly as a swarm of vicious-looking insects burst out._

 **[Eye Close]**

I watch was the four idiots ran away, letting a chorus of girly screams in the process. The illusionary swarm would chase them back to the town, some would get inside their clothes, and some would bite them. They will be feeling the phantom sensation for days.

I was about to continue my way, but a fearful shriek drew my attention.

*Sigh*

"I know you are the Artyom, come out."

He didn't move for a few minutes, but eventually, he came out from where he was hiding in the bushes.

"Um... H-Hey Nadia, um… fancy meeting you here?" he tried, sending a broken smile.

Funny. "Why are you here, Artyom?" I ask with a quiet but harsh tone.

"I-I… um…I"

"Have you been following me again?" He didn't have to answer; the way he dips his face told everything.

Dumb Artyom, always following, always bothering, always sticking his nose where he does not belong. When is he going to realize that just because my mother married that wimp, that doesn't mean I'm suddenly his sister? I'm not even his friend.

"Go home Artyom. This isn't a place for someone like you."

It doesn't matter if he doesn't listen to me on this case. The Barriers on the forest would make him get lost, and eventually wander his way back into town. He couldn't follow me there, and he knows it.

"Nadia, wait!" He shouts with an uncharacteristic strength; it lasted until I look back at him, "I… Um… I don-" His voice becomes almost inexistent as he kept talking.

"What!" I snapped, I going to be late if this continues.

"I-I don't think you should keep seeing that man." He manages to actually look me in the eyes for once. "He is dangerous."

I huff, turning back to continue the path, "I have everything under control." I announce, moving to enter the first barrier.

"N-No Nadia, I… I can't let you do that." He shouts.

As if he was ever able to stop me- wait!

"Hum… Nadia?" He said appreciatively when he sees that I started to walk toward him.

"H-Hum I don't, think… Wait." He keeps retreating until he hit his back against a tree.

I get inside his personal space, Artyom is one year older than me, but I was an inch taller, and the fact he kept sliding to the ground helped me loom.

"Are you going to tell someone about this Artyom? _You better not,_ you know what will happen if you do." His eyes grew terrified as my третий глаз* began to open. "Do you remember what can I do right?"

"YES! Yes! I remember! Please don't do that again!" he brought his hand to his teary eyes, like that would be enough to stop me. "I haven't told anybody, I swear!"

…Good, he isn't lying. Artyom is a terrible liar; there is no way he could have kept it from me if he had.

"Good." I keep my третий глаз open for a few more seconds, just to remind him of what I'm capable of. "Then. Go. Home. Now."

He didn't even look back.

I let out another sigh. One after the other, everybody in this crappy town wants to annoy me today.

Finally free of interruption, I manage to cross the first barrier, making my way deeper into the forest, moving along the forgotten road to my destination. Just like I did every day over the last two months.

As I move closer, the air began to feel natural again. It was a stark contrast from the confinement of that cage of town, where the air feels thin and empty, where everything stinks of _normality_.

On the forest, everything was filled with energy, the incredible deep feeling of магия in the atmosphere made my skin tingle; it brought a familiar strength that fills me to the bone, lifting the weight that was put on my shoulders by the _Lack_ of it.

The sound of my footsteps against the snow alerts the small critters along the path, I could see small, impossible species of animals dashing to the bushes, and fluorescent bugs moving from their place in response to my presence. Each of of these creatures would cause a storm in the scientific community, for their existence was not known for those with weak sight; they are beings that belong to the unknown.

They were attracted there by the source of this energy… just like I was.

 _The supernatural calls for the supernatural._ I feel the corners of my mouth rise in a tiny smile.

I made sure to keep a wide berth from the gelatinous creature prowling around though; it would try to dissolve my clothes at any sign of weakness.

After an enjoyable track through woods that got rid of the stress accumulated throughout the day, I reach my destination.

A classic-looking mansion that stands out among the trees surrounding it; the front garden started to show the months of negligence, and the remains of the gate still a twisted mess that nobody cared enough to fix. But the mansion itself is spotless, with no signs of marking or structural damage.

Here is where the energy in the air is the heaviest; the магия particles in the air are constantly being agitated by the existence inside the house, something that goes completely unnoticed by _him._

This aspect of their existence is so banal, so _trivial_ to them that it's below their notice. For they are one of the sources of the supernatural as a whole; trying to see the world with humans eyes, where you can't quite grasp the power to change reality and are left to be content with just scraps of it rather than produce a significant amount of it all the time. It's impossible.

I enter the building with little ceremony, finding refuge from the rapidly decreasing temperature outside.

The insides transmitted the same warm elegance from the outside; the place was clean and well taken care of, the traces of the old family who used to live here still present.

They don't live here anymore, and the entire town forgot about them all together, just like they did with this place. In a single night, the thought of a mansion in the wood owned by an eccentric couple become a ludicrous one for the citizens of Sortavala.

I take a deep breath, taking it the warm homely smell and… something familiar.

I expand my senses, letting it spread around the mansion, expecting the denizens to be tirelessly fulfilling their duties, as always. Instead, I found the vast majority of them concentrated on a single room-

Someone brushes against my senses, leaving a rich impression of energy behind, instantly I felt _his_ attention on me.

A shiver passes through my body. He is awake now? With still hours of sunlight left. That's… odd.

I leave my coat and boots behind, and quickly made my way to the living room, leaving him waiting is… Unwise.

The room smelt of sex and perfume. the window's curtains were drawn to the maximum, filling the place with shadows and darkness. The only source of light was the old chimney that flickers consistently with a small fire, illuminating the sweaty bodies across the room.

Across the room, there were unconscious women of all ages and ethnicities, laying on wherever he discarded them, their energy drained out almost entirely, leaving only enough to keep them alive.

Looks like I'll have to make dinner tonight, they would not be able to move until much later. It always ends up like that when he is in his mood.

One of the women manages to open her eyes when I got closer, the empty eyes turned to watch me without a drop of emotion or will in them.

I held no sympathy for her or for any of them. Really, they knew what they signed up for, and even if they hadn't, they don't have anything left to feel sympathy about. In that state, they are barely human, nothing more than _Dolls_. Living with the sole purpose to serve their master in each way he wishes, be it as a warm cunt or a convenient blood bag.

I crunch my nose in disgust… killing the unnecessary feeling growing inside. There is no point in pitying them; they are just Dolls, Slaves… _Failed appendices._

I will not end up like them.

"Nadia? Is that you, sweet child?" My teacher's velvet voice draws my attention. Making my heart jump at the sound.

He was sitting on a couch near the fire. My quiet approach slowing reveals his form, along with the one between his legs.

Pale, lean muscles shone against the light; drops of sweat that the women leave behind covered his form, making it look like he was sparkling majestically. His head rested on the back of the couch, his elegant features transmitting a commanding calmness, the blond locks still perfect aligned regardless of his early activities.

Between his legs, a brunette moves her mouth up and down his member. Her movements were sloppy; the sounds she was making were inelegant, and only his grasp on her hair keeping her from falling unconscious like the others. I vaguely recognized her, some American teenager that didn't last a week… Betty, or something.

"I came for my lessons, master." I bow submissively, just like the way I was taught, and try to ignore how happy calling him that made me feel.

"Yes… Of course, my sweet, beautiful Nadia, like you came every day before." His eyes open watching me with a golden intensity, his lips curling into a tender smile. "I told you to not call me that here, didn't I? I may call me by my name; you are my only apprentice after all."

I'm sure he told that for each one of them, but the butterflies it set up inside…

"Yes…Edward." Ignore the warmth, focus. I lick my lips before continuing. "I'm here for my lessons," I repeated.

His smile seems to grow. "So eager, so fierce. My fiery sweet girl, you will receive arcane knowledge that you so thusly desire, but first." He forcefully brought the brunette down to his base, making her gag loudly, I try to ignore treacherous shiver the vision gave me. "Why don't we… _Review_ … Your other lessons, it has been some time since your last… _Exam_ … What kind of teacher would I be if I was negligent with this important aspect of your education?"

He casually throws the American girl aside, she makes a sound similar to a wounded animal, but my attention isn't on her.

"Come here, Nadia." He commanded.

…This is business, nothing more. A mere exchange for the knowledge of the mystic arts, it doesn't mean anything… The ache I felt inside was just the eagerness for the upcoming lesson- if I make him happy, he would be willing to teach more…

Yes, this is just a means to get what I wanted.

I focused on my objective as I slowly get on his lap, my legs stranding him on the side, rubbing my silt against his cock as I move down to the base, keeping him between my bottom and lips, putting my weight on the right places to stimulate and letting him feel the wetness.

"Like this, Edward?" I ask timidly, my face showing a perfect mask of uncertainty and innocence, just like he liked.

"Yes my sweet girl, just like that, now try to move like I taught you," He grim as I began the first movements. "Slowly now, Nadia, we have all the time in the world."

As he commanded, I slow down, moving like I was instructed. Moving my hips at I slow pace, dragging up and down on his length, gyrating with visible movements, forcing my weight on the base, trying to keep as much contact as possible, to pleasure him with my touch. The dance against the warm pole sent ever-growing bolts of lightning along my spine, the intensity of the shocks increase with the warm on my lower parts, eventually manifesting in soft gasp and moans. As always, I deliver them in a surprised tone like it was the first time I felt them.

His hands slid up my thighs, bright the edge of my dress with them with an intoxicating touch. His intentions were clear.

"Ah...Pleases wait Edward-its so sudden I" I grasp my skirt with a token resistance, "T-this is embarrassing."

The reaction seems to please him.

"But my dear Nadia, Can't you see my state?" Lean, well-formed muscles against the flickering light, I could feel myself gulp. His smirk became wider. "It's rather unfair that I'm the only one undressed." He resumes his actions.

"Ahh! Wait Edward-ah! Please…" He pulled my loose dress up, his hand leaving a trail of fire on the way, at least the Dolls are good for warming him first. I let out some unplanned moans when his fingers passed in some particular places; I could see he his eyes light up in growing hunger.

My body doesn't hold a candle to a mature woman's, but I'm pleasing to the eye. My breast just now started to grow and I'm a little on the thin side, but my genes resulted in very ample hips for a girl of my age, and my thighs and rear were nicely rounded, I could attract quite the attention if I wear something to accentuate these spots.

I brought my arm to hide my chest in practiced shyness and in part because the hungry look always left me uncomfortable.

"Beautiful… Your body is an art piece, my dear Nadia." He eyes trailed down, his hunger only growing when he saw my underwear: tiny, black, tied on the sides. "Truly my best apprentice." He brought his face close; I tip my head to meet him.

Kisses are dangerous.

Soft lips, so warm when they were normally cold, a metallic mix of wine and arousal! A suave dance growing more daring and wild and its processes- Ugh! My tongue feels so tiny against his… I could feel my head become lighter.

Kisses are _very dangerous._

My hands push his chest weakly, he allows me to separate and catch my breath slowly, but he kept attacking with tiny kisses in each intake like he was trying to steal the air from my lungs.

I retreated more, trying to regain my composure, my body was trembling, and the ache in my lower belly was quickly becoming unbearable. Tiny sound keep escaping my throat in each breath- I have to-

He thrust upward in a brief movement, making a louder sound came out of me, the rub this time brought a very distinct sensation, making me look down.

When-When did he take my panties?

T-that's no good, in my current state, I would…

"That no good Edward… I have to prepare you first." I try to tempt him by pushing my glistening lips.

A pair of strong hands grabbed my ass cheeks firmly, making me shriek. They were big enough to envelope them completely, but it was cushioned enough for some flesh to spill between.

"I'm sorry dear Nadia, but you are so _irresistible_ tonight." He brought me up, easily carrying my weight until the tip meets my entrance.

S-shit!

In one single movement, he pulls me down.

Warm, so very warm, filling me completely, spreading me painfully until it reached the deepest part -Ohhh!

It's painful, it always is, but unlike my first time, intense spikes of pleasure accompanied it.

I try to focus, getting back control of my body… Of the sounds I was making…

AH!

U-up and down again. I…

Mgh!

He has embraced me, thrusting upward with a shallow, firm thrust. I could only see or hear him, his grunts, his panting- No, _my_ panting.

He gives me particular strong trust - OOaAHh! H-hitting a sweet spot deep inside. Making me let out my loudest moan yet.

It drives him wild.

I feel my back hitting to couch as he exchange position, his member coming out almost entirely, leaving only the head inside, O-oh.

"HYAHH!"

DEEP, too deep, the thrust knocks my breath away, the scream made me throw my head back. I think-

Long fangs bite my neck, sending an overwhelming amount of pleasure down my spine, each one of his gulps seems to inject euphoria into my soul.

I feel his cock slid out once more.

The next slam made me see white.

 **[Eye Close]**

I fell to the floor. Every single muscle in my body _screams_ for even the tiniest of movement. I felt like I ran five marathons only to have what left of my energy violently drained. The worst of all was my head; it felt like it's going to _split_ \- like someone drilled a hole in my forehead and filled with _burning lava._

My pride refuses to acknowledge the pathetic sounds I made as I tighten into a ball in an effort to bear the pain; luckily the women around me were too broken to register my strange behavior.

After a few _agonizing_ eternities, the overwhelming pain retreated enough for the world to make sense again. My limbs still feel like jelly, and my head's still being assaulted by a mighty hammer, but it was more bearable now.

With a herculean effort, I manage to close my третий глаз, that thing almost felt swollen.

Now, concentrate, do not think of anything, clear your mind for all emotions, feel the energy in the air… See the corners of my vision darken.

I _forced_ myself awake. I _cannot_ pass out now; it would bring serious consequences if I did. With a loud grunt from the effort, I rise to my feet, using the furniture and the unmoving bodies as support.

Now, focus on the pain… It would keep me grounded. Clear your mind; feel the energy… Good… now start pulling.

Slowly the магия's particles began to enter my body, working to refill my energy… And I don't mean stamina; no, I mean _energy in general._

The state I'm right now is very dangerous; it only takes one brain connection to fail for the lack of energy…

But, it's doable.

Soon, my body was on the level on just being put into the grinder, and my forehead entered the level of pain that isn't distracting anymore…At least for someone trained, like I was.

…Using my третий глаз on something like Edward comes with a price; he is not a helpless human.

I turn to look and the naked vampire humping the air. His face was twisted in an insane display of pleasure, the abrupt movements were close to making him fall off the couch, but I doubt that would stop him.

Edward was a vampire, one of the creatures who were close to the core of the supernatural; his very existence brought the light of the arcane to everywhere he goes. His race superiority towards humans was unquestionable, however even if the race was an essential aspect in the face of power, it was not everything; you have to account the person.

And Edward Kullen doesn't even come close to _**Her.**_

The woman, who my mother tell stories about in hushed tones, the woman who I read about in Grandmother's journal. The woman who I met only once when I was very young, yet the memories of the day are carved in my mind along with the sheer power she was able to wield… No, this horny vampire, who was outsmarted by a 'mere' human, doesn't reach her feet.

And I guess race plays a factor too. Edward is only a vampire and she… She is a _**Devil.**_

I clench my fists; someday I will be one too… Just like her.

But for now, I have to become worthy.

Edward would fuck ' _me_ ' for another hour, provided that I came back to redo the illusion, after that he would be impressed, pleased, and secretly frustrated for my ability to keep up with him. Maybe this time ' _I'_ would pass out briefly to feed his pride and avoid suspicion, then _'I'_ would take a bath, which may or may not require another illusion, then we would come to the workshop where he would fulfill his end of the bargain and actually teach me what I came to learn.

I just have to be in the workshop, and he wouldn't notice the difference.

The real me, in the meanwhile, would be on his office, the real workshop, going through his documents, his letters (vampire culture was fascinating) and more important through _the books he didn't want me to see._

Oh, and make dinner after that.

It's just another peaceful night of lessons for me.

As I exit the room on my way to the office, Artyom's worries flash across my mind again.

…Dumb Artyom, he keeps bugging me even in memory.

I have everything under control.

* * *

1 Magic  
2 Currency in Russia  
3 Third Eye


	10. Interlude 1

Betas: this chapter was beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back in QQ forum.

Interlude 1.0

* * *

 **[XXXXX's Pov]**

The corridors look different at night.

Smooth, gargantuan walkways masterly crafted from polished Moonrock, with silver gemstones embedded in the walls. Big windows framed by luxurious gray curtains, ones that were systematically tidied every day to stay as uniform as possible. Tonight, instead of the picturesque boreal forest, which has been letting out oddly hypnotic sounds lately, the vision beyond the glass was that of a complete and all-encompassing white, as a vicious blizzard mercilessly descended upon the land, bringing a cold death with them. The overwhelming frost was kept outside by the old powerful magic long since installed within these walls, but even them couldn't wholly hold back the cutting sounds of the icy storm or keep the already normally low temperature to lower even further.

The place was clearly constructed with appearances in mind; the windows were too big, the silver decorations lessened the integrity of the thinner-than-the-norm walls, and the overall design favored showmanship instead of practicality, with many rooms being too big, or not big enough, and the corridors and stairways going for too long increasing the distance between them. In a realistic siege scenario, this castle would be a nightmare to defend, and a piece of cake to attack.

Yet, its builders had undoubtedly succeeded in what they set off to do. The Dantalion's Castle is without a shadow of a doubt, the most beautiful castle of the entire Underworld. A title that it unofficially held for centuries, and in recent times, has been made official by countless polls of many different magazines. This sudden popularity motivated the construction of the Tourist Post, where travelers from all over the Underworld could bask in its magnificence. At a distance of course, to not endanger the safety of the Pillar family inside.

 _A family that matches the castle's beauty in every possible way._

I let out a strangled breath, pausing for a second to recompose myself and kept the unprofessional thoughts very far away.

Tonight's walk is going to be a long one...

Where was I? The corridors, yes! I was thinking about the corridors and _nothing else._

A long sigh escapes my lips with a faint cloud accompanying it. It's been getting more difficult to quell the anxiety inside. My walks are only getting longer, and they started to lose most of its effectiveness, on any other occasion I would be throwing myself at training, moving with the single-minded focus of improving myself, abandoning any useless thoughts while at it, and making me so exhausted that I would pass out as soon as I hit the bed.

But I quickly learned that making my body _hot_ and _sweaty_ only makes things worse, so the long walk through cool corridors was a much better alternative. I just have to keep walking, and occasionally take notice of the slight imperfection that must be dealt with in the morning.

Just walk. Walk and not think. That's easy.

…It wasn't easy.

My mind kept coming back to what prompted tonight's "walk through freezing corridors". It kept coming back no matter what I did, until I had no choice but to reflect on the events once again.

It happened just at the end of today's work hours. The girls had invited me to one of their gatherings, something that used to be pretty rare, as it wasn't a secret that I was one of the _special_ maids, thus not really considered one of them, but lately it's been happening a lot more, maybe due to the slight shift in the castle's atmosphere that few people noticed, and no one seems to know what exactly has changed, or perhaps is my new status as personal handmaid of the Lady.

I tried to ignore the warm feeling that grew inside at the thought.

The gathering themselves were innocuous enough, just a reunion of friends and co-workers to share gossip and play games, including _different kinds_ of games behind closed doors. I remember being on a card table among a group of six, when the ever-popular topic on the household emerged: the Dantalion's heir.

Elias has been… a focal point of interest to the maid staff for some time now, pretty much since he was born, really. At first, for being an adorable and well-behaved baby, whose vision was enough to thaw the coolest of hearts and make anyone around him a puddle of cooing noises and dopey eyes. The incident when he tasted his first candy still draws prolonged girly screams from the ones who were there to witness.

And the baby has grown up into a remarkable child, one who carries himself with the maturity of someone twice his age, coupled with a sharp mind that many tutors have trouble keeping up with, and with power so above the norm that he is considered one of the prodigies of his generation. It all points to someone who will grow up to be a powerful and handsome devil, and the leader of one of the most influential families of the underworld.

And people take notice of that, especially if said people were a castle full of women.

Among the staff, there is a bit of everything; women who declared their undying love for him and would strive to be with him for the rest of their lives, others who want to use him to secure their status position as a worker of the pillar, others who didn't care about the status and were only looking for the carnal effect that this relationship implies, and all of them were waiting for the day they will be called to help sate his lusts, something I heard is pretty typical for devil children who have a stronger than normal lust aspect, which Elias clearly does.

That of course, prompts them to search any bit of information about the heir and tried to stand out in his eyes. But most of their efforts are halted by the ever-present lady of the house, whose lovely gentle eyes can turn pretty scary if she sees anyone trying to insinuate themselves to her innocent son. Something that just makes them even hungrier for information.

Enter me, who for some reason had been allowed to be near the heir, taking over many of his combat lessons, and gaining the position as the Handmaid of the Lady, perhaps the most significant post on the castle ever since the single butler retired.

…And became part of the weird warm bond they share.

In summary, I'm the one with most of the information about the heir and the Lady of the Dantalions, and so became the biggest target for questions that night.

I answered what I could without disrespecting their private lives, something that ultimately created more questions, so I had to answer and dodge even more. And through all of that, the feeling of discomfort grew, but this wasn't why I left, no…

It was seeing them gushing about Elias, drawing their own conclusions and theories, declaring their love and admiration or sometimes making their obsession clear, seeing them talking about him like that raised the confusing feeling that I struggled with for the past few months, this time mixed with an ugly one.

I left the room before I did anything stupid. Eventually, the ugly feeling went away, leaving only the burning one, which I could not explain for the life of me.

Everything just left me frustrated.

And those girls, taking about Elias like that, He is still a child! I know that's the human remnants in me speaking, and that most Pure Devils care more about power and status than age, but still, at least wait until his body is capable of such things!

I began thinking about the prospect of Elias reaching puberty and taking his urges to those girls…

 _A deep angry groan echoes through the corridors._

I immediately slid into a battle state, ready to take on any invaders... But it soon became clear that I was the only one here. How strange.

Anyway, Elias. With other girls. I don't like it; these girls were too enamored with a version of Elias that only exists in their heads. It might be dangerous to feed their delusional fantasies, and Elias deserves better than some maid that's basically a stranger, he certainly wouldn't like that. Yes, I know him best after all!

I congratulated myself for such sensible conclusion.

I know him best… heh. I couldn't help but to laugh at the amusing thought; out of all the women who desires to be in this position, the one who is, don't desire him in any way.

Not at all.

He isn't the one that I desire.

 _Crystalline snow-white hair, cascading around a heart-shaped face with aristocratic but soft features, an incredibly voluptuous body clad in a simple white nightwear, big half lifted blood-red eyes looking at me with barely contained desire. "You have been sooo good to me over the last few years Belinda," a pink tongue rolled across the pillowed lips, "I believe you deserve a reward."_

My world illuminates, the unsettling feeling gives way to a warm familiar one, bringing the usual butterflies and the uncontrollable smile. And this time it didn't come accompanied by the horrible sensation of powerlessness and grief.

We…We are so close now. The admiration I felt for the distant beautiful Lady doesn't compare to the adoration I felt for the caring woman she turned out to be. I never believed that my beloved Lady would be such wonderful woman, Hell, I never once thought that I would get this close to her to know her as a woman.

And what's more; Lord Dantalion is steadily losing interest in her, which made myself and many others question his sanity, but that means I could… I had an actual _chance_ now. Not the kind of relationship I really want, she and I live in a different world after all, but she must have been feeling lonely in bed without her husband, right? Oh yeah, she is sleeping with Elias… It made sense, suppressing her womanly urges and focusing only on motherhood to make up for the lack of attention from her husband; I saw this before, hell, I took advantage of that before, fufufu.

Oh dear, I shouldn't have these kinds of thoughts! My Lady is more than simple conquest to take away the stress from the conflicts of my younger years. No, she is more.

I move my hand to my racing heart.

 _…Much more._

With my thoughts and feelings in order once more, I allowed myself a pause to lean against a cold window frame, which did wonders for the warmth my body is producing. A soft moan escapes my lips, my mind relaying fantasies about my beautiful Lady, now with much more realism; as I came to intimately know how she smells without perfume, how her soft, very, _very_ soft, embrace feels, the real resonance in the sound of her laughter.

The confusing, inexplicable sensation I was having is long forgotten under the weight of my feelings for my Lady.

If this is what the girls feel when they thought of Elias, then I suppose I understand. I could even see why they would feel like this.

Elias may be young, but he inherited all the best traits from his parents, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow has inherited the best features of his _entire family_. His appearance can be downright hypnotic to anyone not used to it, and even if someone _is_ used to it, sometimes it's hard to look away. And that supernatural beauty seems to translate to other aspects as well, his voice has an entrancing cadence that makes love to the ears when he talks to you, his sharp eyes have an intensity that is easy to lose yourself into, even the way he moves holds a natural grace that would require years of training for someone to emulate. It's frankly scary to think he hasn't even reached puberty yet; I have trouble imagining how he will look in the future.

And his power is just unbelievable. He is already beyond what a regular combat tutor can teach, having long since exceeded the lessons about strategy, magic, and combat, and has begun to come off with his own training and experiments that he does every single day. I never hear of anything like that in someone so young.

I know full well how he acts in combat; his precise well-thought-out movement and positions, his quick attacks that many times held much more energy and were much more sophisticated than it first looked, the way he seamlessly adapts to any new moves or situations you throw at him, the supernatural focus he has on his opponent, the slight smile when a new attack works, the cute way his tongue slips his lips when he's plotting something, the fact that he is so accustomed to hugs and cuddle that wherever we relax together he unconsciously reaches all the right places, his faint musculature that would look grotesque on a child that young but it somehow seems almost artistic in him, the way he looks when his body is all sweaty.

*Crack!*

T-That annoying, confusing feeling is back, even more potent than before. I-I must get back to my walk before the horrible tingling in my stomach makes me expel my dinner.

I let go of the frame, feeling my hands' release the-Oh fuc-

Calm Down. Breathe. Professional thoughts, keep the professional thoughts. I'm a maid from a Pillar House, these kinds of thoughts are unbecoming of me.

I will simply wake up early and fix the frame, that's not a problem at all.

For now, I must walk-

Footsteps, three pairs, two forms; one biped, light steps, low weight, almost no sound, perfectly balanced, most likely trained in stealth, walking in the middle of the corridor in a confident jaunt, the other, quadruped, doesn't move like any animal I know of, but has sure steps, with the occasional misbalance, maybe not used to floors or bears an injury that is affecting its movement.

It's very unlikely to be a wandering maid, and the maid that is supposed to wander aimlessly like she totally isn't guarding the place will not pass through this corridor for at least half an hour.

It's either intruders or an unpredictable event.

They just turned to enter this corridor; at this pace, they will reach me in ten minutes. I decided to confront them directly and assess the situation before determining the next course of action.

I activated the dead trigger seal placed under my tongue, while activating the spell within the walls to prepare for the alarm and the complete self-destruction of that wing of the castle if necessary.

With luck, this will be an Event, these can be a little unpredictable, but they rarely need full hostile retribution, often not requiring violence, or needing just the right amount to diffuse whatever happens. They are of course impossible to predict, but some can be a little expected. For example, Elias recently began contact with the Sitri Heiress, so the entire staff was instructed to expect Serafall Leviathan to break into the castle somewhere in the future.

I don't think it is an overprotective Satan this time. Given her television persona I believe the entire castle would know the moment she broke in, but no matter, I just have to put a polite and controlled mask and wait.

And soon he came out of the shadows.

"Belinda, I didn't think you would still be awake. Are you taking an enthusiastic walk as well?"

"Elias!?" The castle ward passed through his form without any effect; it really is him. "What are you doing there, shouldn't you be in bed?" I mentally kicked myself at the casual way I addressed him; this night is affecting me more than I thought.

Elias, as always, didn't seem to care about my grievous disrespect and merely responded in a casual matter.

"I'm walking my pet. She has been such a good girl lately that I thought about rewarding her in some way."

Then I finally noticed the petrified figure on his side.

"W-WHAT IS THAT!?"

"Hey now, don't be rude. This is my pretty cow, and I'm just taking her for a walk, there is nothing strange about that."

Nothing strange! About this!?

A female form, clad in tight black and white leather, the outfit was simple, but it did an excellent job at emphasizing the prodigious curves. If one would ignore the leather covering some areas here and there, it could be mistaken for a tight bikini. She was on her hands and knees, the limbs protected by long leather cloth, also following the same color pallet. Her face was bound in similar ways, a white blindfold over her eyes, a medium sized ball gag on her mouth and a tiara with two cute cow ears to the side.

And a big white collar with a leash attached to it.

I could see the reason for the cow theme, the lager bikini top looked small when compared to the assets it was holding, the titanic tits were pushed together by the piece, but still moved obscenely from their hanging position-

Never mind that! It's a bondage pet! It's Elias and a bondage pet, an eight-year-old with a fucking bondage pet! Just what the hell-

Oh, fuck he is domming her. Why the fuck he is domming her!

"Elias, What the hell-"

Wait…

Wait a second.

Wait a _damn_ second.

That snow-white hair tied in a full branch, that still recognizable feminine features, _those. Tits._

I saw very few women with tits like these in my long life.

"T-this is … I-it can't be. Lady-"

" _ **This is Bella.**_ " Elias' voice echoes through my existence. "Yes, Bella is a good name, better than that Betsy cliché." He began to stroke her head, making her breathe again. "Your name is now Bella. Do you like that name, pet?!."

"M-Moooo" Bella lets out an uncertain sound that made me want to bully her- wait a fucking second. Don't lose focus, girl!

"Elias, why is… Bella, why is she…" I pause trying _desperately_ to put my thoughts into words, "Who is she?"

He gives me a deadpan look. Well, excuse me, kid! I'm a little bit shaken right now.

"I just told you, she is my pet cow." He repeated calmly like that was the most normal thing in the world.

"Yes, I can see that, _but why do you have her_?"

Elias blinked, and then a slow smile spread across his face, "She was a present. Something to help me control my urges."

That… That makes a surprising amount of sense. With his unnaturally strong lust urges and still developing control over it, Elias would need something to help him suppress this side of him. This is what many maids were anxiously waiting for, but it seems like someone is already on the case.

I hear that Pillar families were all eccentrics in some ways; perhaps it comes with eons of being above any laws and morals. But to give a bondage pet to a child! Even if the Lord's perversion is a well-known fact among the castle and Elias seems to inherit a lot of it. To think he would gift his son with-

"Not from _father_." Elias hissed, seemingly reading my mind. "She was gifted to me by mother."

…Well fuck.

"And she is the best present I have gotten." His voice held so much love that I thought he was talking about his mother for a second.

The Thing… Woman… Bella. Practically melts after that.

Well fuck!

I-

How do I react to that!

And, really Araneya! You gave a sex-slave to your son! A SEX-SLAVE! After guarding his innocence against any kind of female attention for so many years. Just what was she thinking!?

And the way he looks at her. Fuck! I think he is in love, which also makes fucking sense if this is the case; a confused boy, suffering from urges he couldn't really understand, just receives a woman how are willing to do _anything_ that he desires. That leaves an impact, hell a teenage Human boy would fall in love in this situation, and his kinds of urges aren't nearly as tangible or strong as Elias'.

I… Fuck, I'm not prepared to deal with this.

"What do you think…?"

"Hm?" My mind is flying at the moment, kid.

"…Of her. What do you think of her?"

…Really? Are you asking me that? Currently, I'm not thinking much of anything in particular, mostly just trying to process the information.

I opened my mouth but closed it after I saw that forming words were beyond me at the moment.

"Oh, you can't see her very well from there, you should have told me." He gives the leash a gentle pull. "Come Bella, move closer to the window. This way."

The woman followed his instructions and let Elias guide her to the faint moonlight that manages to pass the blizzard. She moved with slight hesitation, but her overall form is almost graceful.

I didn't need light to see her, my devil eyes could see through the shadows very well. It's not really a matter of seeing her, it's a matter of not knowing what to think of her.

I tried to tell Elias that.

Then all my breath flew away, leaving only a faint sound of its departure.

…Brilliant white hair tied into a full braid to avoid touching it the floor due to its length, milky pale skin that shone under the moonlight, giving her an otherworldly aura that accentuates her womanly assets even more. Big massive globes barely contained in the leather prison, moving obscenely with each breath. A tiny bikini bottom cutting the meat of her prominent butt; the triangle did it's best to hold them, but most of the flesh was steadily spilling out by her movements. And lines of leather, symbolically connecting the two pieces, but actually tightening the grip on different parts of her body. Her wonderful well-proportioned body, a perfect balance of supple meat and taut muscle.

I feel myself gulp; she certainly looks different in the light.

"Belinda." I jump at the sound of Elias' voice, "Come here." He commanded.

D-Did he ever sounded this manly?

I walk the last few steps to stand beside him, just as the Wom-Bella came in front of us.

"Bella… Belinda is watching you." The throatily moan she makes causes my insides to fire up. "So, make sure to present yourself properly," The sound of Elias talking somehow make the entire thing way more intense.

"Top." He said.

Bella moved immediately, with none of the early hesitations was present.

She rose to her knees with a fluid movement, pushing her chest up and putting her arms behind her back, like someone had tied an imaginary rope around her wrists.

…Woah.

T-The two main attractions of this position were pushed against the tight leather, the cloth visibly struggling to hold them, the fight made her nipples clearly visible through the material, as the hard tip made a perfectly formed impression.

"Mooo~" she let out another sound. Fuck, no cow sound should be allowed to be this sexy!

A series of sounds came out of my mouth; I honestly have no idea of what I was going to say, too preoccupied watching the slowly increasing rise and fall of the mountains and trailing the beads of sweat as they slid across the hot flesh and began to accumulate on a small pond between them.

"They are pretty big, aren't they?" Elias' voice sounded like it came from the base of my ear; it sends a shiver down my spine.

"Yes. Yes, they are." I breathe out, somehow finding my voice after having lost it for what seemed like countless of years. I lick my dry lips and couldn't hold back the last part. "They are the biggest I have ever seen."

A long drawn out croon was my reward; her face rises a little higher, her chest is pushed a little more, making the edges of pale areolae appear. And her lips started to curl around the gag.

 _She is enjoying this._

My lips suddenly felt very dry once more. In fact, it's hot, everything is very, _very_ hot. The corridors that always felt a bit too cold, now feels like a sauna. Most of my uniform is glued to my body due to the sweat, my blood feels like lava, and the tingly feeling on my belly now seems to have spread all around.

When did I become like this?

"Now, Bella, there is a window behind you… Do you understand?" I vaguely hear Elias speaking, and the sultry moo he got as a response. "Good, now, Bottom."

She was up on her feet a moment after, making me gasp from the sudden movement.

She tilts her head at the sound, and the lips curled a bit more.

Oh hell, she is so close, just a bit shorter than me in height, if she tilts her head just so, and I brought mine down a little.

Then with the same fluid motions, she turns around, gives me a sight of her ethereal hair moving across her glistening back that ends in a juicy peach.

…A small voice in the back of my mind noticed that she did have a tail, but it was attached to the edge of the, now smaller, bottom part of the outfit, instead of... 'plugged in', as is usually the case.

I barely noticed her hand slowly sliding down the cold window glass and gripping the lower part of the frame. Too busy watching two mountains of taut flesh and realizing that the lower part of the outfit is barely more than a thong by that point.

And all my thoughts flew away when she _bends over._

Elias remarks something besides me, but it sounds so far away. All my focus was on the woman who has spread _everything_ in front of me.

Well-formed legs speared into a surprisingly stable position, a milk-white heart-shaped form only accentuated by her arched back, a tight, so very tight, thread of black leather passing in-between.

The leather was hugging _everything_ ; showing the world an obvious impression of plump lips tightly pressed together and round bottom standing proudly below them.

I feel my mouth watering and –When did I get to my knees?

"…But you can see that right? Look how wet she is."

W-what, wet? Yes, I can see that. The area around the inner thigh is absolutely drenched and thick rivulets are flowing out of her center at a constant pace, making the leather give out an even cleaner impression. Tiny twitches began to appear on the jiggly flesh, as she reacts to our attention.

Suddenly, a small hand appears in my vision, the tip of the fingers slowly rubbing the upper layers, moving with a casual familiarity that a master musician would have with their favorite instrument, the hips quakes under the ministrations and heavy, melodic sounds begin fills the ambient.

The audio and visual stimulations were too much, thoughts begin to tangle together in my mind and- the fingers took hold of the leather and pulled to the side.

 _Almighty Satan!_

Trembling juicy flesh that has taken on a hot red tinge, a vibrant pink slit that was pulled open by the fingers, revealing the watering, clenching tunnel, moving in dangerous entrancing motions.

Oh, fuck! It's so fucking beautiful. The smell is so intoxicating, it makes me feel so hot and... _hungry._

A firm hand gripped my hair from behind, causing a deep, confusing moan to escape and a shiver to traverse down my spine. This felt _way_ better than it should.

I'm finally reminded of Elias's presence, and _how the fuck could I forget him_? That deep, burning look under half lidded blood-red eyes; it made me feel like I was being judged and evaluated at the same time… And for some reason that makes me feel even _hotter._

Fuck, what is happening to me today!?

"Hmm." He seems to weigh something, the soft features paradoxically making his face look stronger than it looked. "Do you want to play with my cow Belinda? Is that it?" A small, shiver-inducing, grin spreads on his lips, "What do you think Bella? Belinda here wants to play with you."

His other hand was caressing a twitchy ass cheek, her back's muscles seemed to undulate smoothly while she lightly turns to the side, showing the blushing, patting, droll covered face to us.

"Mooooooo~~" The long, heavy, sultry moan, shook me to the core.

I barely have time to wonder what it means when Elias pushed me forwards.

…Ambrosia.

There is no other way I could explain this incredible taste.

It's not sweet, it's not bitter, it's not sour, it's not salty.

It's everything and beyond.

…A small part of my mind shouts that this isn't what pussy tastes like, but it promptly get silenced as my eyes rolled to the back of my head and my tongue moves to get more of this wonderful favor and feels more of the tender flesh.

"Hey now, none of that sloppy work, my pet deserves only the best, so you better step up your game if you want to continue where you are."

And so I tried, by Satans I tried with everything that I have, desperately working past the _maddening taste_ to bear my experience forward. Following Elias' words like my life depended on it. Trying to make the board dog-like lick to something that resembles control.

I licked every part of it, making sure to apply varied pressure and movement to the sensitive places, making it nice and quivering before diving in, the walls clench around my muscle in an instant, but surprisingly not in an orgasm.

I redouble my efforts, trying to focus despite my increasingly lighter head, using the vibration of my uncontrollable moans to my advantages. Every part my tongue massages, seemed to massage my tongue _back,_ every focus I get, a sway of the hips breaks it, and more and more the walls poured liquid-ecstasy directly into my taste buds.

My hands pushed my skirt upward, trying to quell to the unbearable pressure that was building up there, my fingers were soon working deep within my center, but somehow it stays less sensible than my _tongue._

Time began to blur together. The world started to lose its meaning, the only thing that exists was the _delicious_ , trembling, warm pussy that I'm eating, the _wonderfully_ _firm_ grip on my hair, and the pressure that keeps building up.

I don't know how long I stay there, held together by the grip, drinking from the holy grail, with thoughts and emotions tangled together in an unexplainable mess, But I remember the dam exploding, the pressure coming forward in pulses of mindboggling pleasure. Seconds before my mind turned to white, I noticed that the nectar somehow becoming richer, and shooting a lot more violently.

… When I came back, I was still kneeling, the tight grip supporting my limp body, and _everything_ was sensible.

My rapid breathing made my breasts rub against my uniform, sending sparks of electricity to my tired core. My mouth was tingly, and I couldn't keep it closed, my tongue was moving in and out searching for any last remaining of the taste, and every breath come out was a moan.

"That was… acceptable, not the best, but not many can handle a woman like Bella." Elias' voice becomes one of the foundations of my slowly rebuilding world. Did it ever sound this good? "Your enthusiasm clearly reached her though, have a look." He gently dips my head down.

Bella's hip had fallen to my lap, locking both my arms underneath her, her legs have uncurled past my sides, her upper body was dropped into a somewhat awkward position, which would undoubtedly be painful if it wasn't for her apparent flexibility, her arm still unintelligently trying to hug the walls and she was letting a constant chorus of moans and moos that were a delight to my ears. But that wasn't what draws my attention.

It was the swollen, dripping, occasionally squirting pussy shaking against my lap, thoroughly drenching the front of my uniform.

"I'm surprised too, didn't think she would react as much, she usually takes longer to finish. She must have really liked you," I couldn't register Elias words as the most beautiful thing I ever saw entranced my mind.

The grip finally loosens; making me struggle to find my balance for a few moments.

"Come on Bella, we have to go, it's getting late," Elias said with a pull from the leash.

It was all it took to revitalize her. The seemingly exhausted woman straightens herself, the arms shot up once more to grip the window frame again, the shapely legs curled behind me, the back arched in a wave-like motion, popping the bones along the spine, a loud draw out moan is squeezed through the gag.

Then, with deliberate, slow movement the hip began to rise, making sure to make as much contact with my body as possible, gyrating and bouncing its way up. My eyes widen at the hypnotically approaching form.

My mouth tastes Ambrosia again, the taste feels even better then before, my tongue reacts instantly, and the walls somehow manage to _grip_ it and _suck_ it in.

 _S-She is kissing me goodbye._

But soon she was gone; leaving me sticking my tongue out like an idiot and feeling _empty_ inside.

Holy fuck what was that, why the fuck do I feel like crying-

Arms; a strong, warm pair of arms wrapped me in a gentle embrace, bringing my head against an inviting chest with calming heartbeats.

"Thank you for taking care of my beloved pet, Belinda," Elias speaks through my hair, his voice so sweet, so full of affection, "I look forward to the next time we play together."

He gives a chaste kiss on my forehead, leaving the place warm and tingly.

...I could melt into a happy puddle right now.

And soon they were walking away, Elias with the same confident jaunt, and his back looking unrealistically broad, and Bella with a less sure, but no less graceful, trot, her back staying arched and her ass swaying a little drunkenly.

I stayed there kneeling on the cold floor with my mind slowly rebooting. The once freezing corridor that didn't even come close to pierce the aura of warmth they left behind.

…What that fuck was that?

Seriously, what that fuck!

I-I… That woman. And-And Elias!?

S-She was so…

And he was so…

I…

...Wait? Next time!?

 _Crystalline snow-white hair, framing a soft, attractive face, calming red eyes that keep everything under tight control, a disarming smile that held a natural intensity, "So you came, Belinda. Good," his hand moved to stroke the head of the desire incarnate that he call a pet. Burning eyes bore into my soul, "I have just the outfit for you."_

*Crack!*

I will fix it tomorrow.


	11. Chapter 9

Betas: this chapter was beta'd by by eveakane and gaouw at QQ Forum.

Chapter 9

* * *

I always knew this day would come.

It was just a matter of time really; these kinds of events happen regularly if you count time from a Devil's perspective. The last time was when Mother found out she was pregnant, and that's like, a few weeks in Devil time.

Regardless, everything was ready for such an occasion.

The entire castle was cleaned even more thoroughly than usual. The many decorations were tidied to perfection or changed to a more extravagant piece altogether. The garden was prepared in an elegant and attention-grabbing way, with several new flowers and birds to complement the place. The dinner plates could be used as mirrors now. There wasn't a single molecule of dust anywhere near the eyes and other supernatural senses could see. The interiors were laid with spells to accentuate the very best part of it, and the whole place smells like an inviting mixture of winter flowers and expensive perfumes.

Me, Mother and Gerhardt were standing on the center of the grand foyer; I'm sure we looked very important with the massive stairway behind us and an equally massive family portrait hanging above. Ahead of us, stands two lines of maids, making a corridor from the front door to us, a proper sight for receiving an honorable guest.

Usually, we wouldn't be standing there waiting for them. The standard procedure would be climbing down the stairs with a graceful waltz, as the guest traverse the room, and meet them halfway in. But this time the guest was _special_.

Seriously, the only reason we aren't waiting outside was the abysmal climate.

I also made sure to be beside Gerhardt today, a small detail that would probably pass unnoticed, but it could make some difference.

The wait wasn't long. Soon, the two members of Gerhardt's peerage stationed outside extended their energy to form a shield against the blizzard, to encompass the oncoming carriage, and the door opened shortly after.

There he was, wearing the same ridiculous outfit he wore on the show, with the over the top pauldrons that looked right out a Japanese RPG, the long cape and the white suit beneath everything. With the same scarlet hair and blue-green eyes that were iconic of his family.

The strongest Devil alive, Sirzechs Lucifer.

I'd like to say that I had to struggle with a deep hatred inside to keep it from showing, or that my anger rises to such level that became impossible to contain. But no, I do not hate this man, I resent him for what he did and fear him for what he represented.

But I would have done the _exact same thing_ he did if it was necessary. _Especially_ , if it was to my enemies.

He is not the one I hate, his family isn't the one I hate, he is merely married to the one I hate, thus his fate will come from _getting in my way_ as he undoubtedly will, or possibly as an instrument for the further suffering of the one I hate.

I think I _could_ hate the Gremory for what they did, perhaps if they took a more direct approach to our oppression, or if Mother was actually capable of holding grudges and passed to me.

Or maybe if I didn't completely agree with their methods for suppressing a threat, even if their supervision sucked afterward.

"Hello, cousin, how have you been?" Lucifer greeted cheerfully, completely disregarding any convention that was expected from someone from his station, which was completely fine, this is an informal meeting after all, it was literally a family visit, the only reason for this fanfare is because this is the way Gerhardt always greets him, so it would look weird if it suddenly changed. "It has been ages since we last spoken!"

"Lord Lucifer, the Dantalion castle is your for as long you deem necessary." Gerhardt stubbornly finished the ceremony with a bow, making the red-haired man actually pout. "And we spoke at Zepar's meeting a month ago." He finished with a deadpan

"I'm talking about casual conversations! Preferably over a drink, like we used to do. Don't you wish to reenact the old days sometime?"

Gerhardt smiled warmly, "Well we are both married men now, so we better chose another place to drink if we wish to keep it that way."

There was a round of laughter.

"And How is- Oh my" Lucifer turned to greet my Mother and was shocked for a moment with what he saw, but soon the friendly smile was back again, even bigger than before. "I'm delighted to see you again Lady Araneya, and I must say motherhood _really_ fits you."

My Mother's smile was perfect, her eye shines with a soft, content light, her body language was deeply relaxed, yet somehow perfectly elegant.

"You honor us with your kind words, Lord Lucifer," Her body dances into an impeccable bow, the kind of which would make the sternest of etiquette teachers weep tears of joy. "I wish you find your staying here to be enjoyable."

My mother has been through these visits many times in the past. She knows what to do, how to act and when to excuse herself. Her lady mask is one that was honed over many centuries, and it will not break for this, even when her recovering state made her more fragile than before.

She asked me to make sure of that, last night.

"I always do my Lady, the Dantalion's reception is undisputed in the Underworld, and an inspiration to the other Pillars." He said kindly.

Mother gives a ladylike giggle at his response.

Then, he came to me.

He wasn't like what I had seen on television, where he displayed a calm and controlled authority and seemed to elude power and charisma each time he moves or speaks, it only takes one look to know that this man is one of the Satans.

But now, there is none of that, he looked relaxed and happy, like meeting with friends after a long day of work, there are even traces of tiredness from the day, his expression was genuine and friendly and his stance in almost humble.

There is nothing that screamed Satan on this man, in fact, beyond the way above average level of attractiveness, there is nothing that indicated that he is really different from any random devil on the street.

No… There is something.

I couldn't feel his demonic energy.

And that made all the difference.

I could always feel the energy of any Devils within my senses, no matter how much they suppress it, there is still some trace left, a hint of their true nature.

Sirzechs Lucifer had no such trace, his nature could very well be that of a human if I didn't know better. This could mean three things; my senses aren't good enough to catch it, he is suppressing his energy to such degree that is almost null, or his energy is so overwhelmingly big that I couldn't even begin to grasp it.

Neither way, every option told me that I still have a long way to go.

"And you are Elias, right? The Dantalion's Heir? Nice to meet you!" He said with a smile.

"You too sir- Err, thank you for word kind words Lord Lucifer, it a pleasure to meet you too." I made it sound as natural as possible, and by that, I mean with an early stumble and a few imperfections after it, like a child who manages to memorize the lines but isn't quite to the point of fully master it.

He lets out an easy laugh at my blunder, "I hear quite a lot about you over the years, is it true that you already going to start taking contracts?"

"You betcha! I'm going to the Human world next month!" I said cheerfully, with a matching grin on my face.

"Elias!" Gerhardt warned, dutifully following one of the many scenarios created for today. I made a choking sound when I realize my 'disrespect' and quickly made to apologize.

Lucifer, predictably, laughs it off. "Come on cousin, don't you remember how we were as children? We were way worse than that." Gerhardt grumped a response, and Lucifer turned back to me once more. "But still, don't you think you are a little young for be taking contracts? You are in the age to be having fun and making friends, so tell me young Dantalion, why the hurry?

"… I have to work hard to fulfill my dream. Lord Lucifer"

"Hohh? And what is it?"

I left a determined smile spread on my face.

"I'm going to become a Satan!" I announced loudly, "And then I going to lead the Devil race into a prosperous age!"

His eyes gained an almost proud light after that.

He chuckles amusedly. "So you're saying that the current Satans aren't leading a prosperous age?"

"URGH!"

He laughed.

He wasn't doing anything that I didn't plan or considered… Until he did.

A warm hand falls on my head, rubbing my hair in a friendly display.

"You are an interesting boy, young Dantalion."

He is rubbing my head.

 _He is rubbing my head!_

Should I take this opportunity? I didn't even consider the possibility of contact, maybe if I could-

He retrieved his hand…

Four seconds. It stayed for four seconds.

Make sense, he must have realized that it's extremity impolite to initiate physical contact for a prolonged period of time when meeting a member of nobility, especially if that member is an heir, and a head rub is a… unorthodox way to greet someone, I would have expected a handshake or a pat on the shoulder.

Still, if it stayed for one second more, no 0,83 seconds more, I would have…

Should I try to initiate contact? Should I risk it? It would certainly draw attention to myself, but would he suspect something? How paranoid is he anyway?

No.

Calm down. There will be other opportunities later. I shouldn't risk everything that I accomplished for a single chance, especially if I was not prepared to sustain it, there is no way I could be in constant contact with a Satan without drawing suspicion, and the distance would undoubtedly be a problem, I already have my hand full with the distance for the Purson region, to try to manage yet another long distance bind… something might slip. And that is not an option.

One does not shoot the Devil in the back without being sure that it would hit.

"… Ask you something?"

I blinked, silently cursing myself for my lack of attention.

"Sure, Lord Lucifer, what can I do for you?"

"I'm sure you met my sister Rias right? Can you keep her company during our stay here?"

Eh?

"It's a pleasure to see you again Eli-Lord Dantalion," Rias said with a faint blush.

…has she been here the entire time?

"The pleasure is all mine, Lady Gremory," I respond with a respectful bow.

I can't believe I didn't notice her.

-0-0-0-

Sirzechs Lucifer's visits are nothing new; he came to this castle many times over the centuries, not only to check up on the Dantalion survivors with his own eyes but also to visit his family member. Something he no doubt had taken from his family, who were known for having a warm relation with their vassals and branches.

According to Gerhardt's memories, these visits really are remarkable informal affairs. They would talk a little about how things are, enjoy each other's company, do some outdoor activities and, dare I say, _hang out_.

Of course, there is the enormous risk of Lucifer noticing something amiss on the castle. So, I did my very best to program _everyone_ to act as natural as possible.

And Mother… she is going to be fine. She said she would. I just have to believe in her.

"Ah! It's beautiful!"

I'm just glad that I don't have to stay in Lucifer's presence for too long, it can't be good for my paranoia.

His little sister is easier to deal with.

"We just received a packet of new kinds of butterflies. They should have matured enough to be visible… There, the ones with a navy-blue wing." I pointed at said group among the flock.

"There is just so many…" Rias said wondrously.

Hm. Now that I think out it; there is a rather excessive number of butterflies in the interior garden. I believe mother had increased the demand for them around the time I was a toddler, I wonder why…

"Ne, ne, Elias, what's that weird pink flower over there?"

"Oh, that's a…"

I continued to lead Rias throughout the castle, answering whatever question she might have. We both quickly figure out that is an excellent way to break the ice and was a departure from the awkward chat we had on the corridors.

I'm not friends with Rias… Ok, by the child logic I am friends with her, but that's just because we met before and did not immediately butt heads over everything. We talked for a little while, in Sona's ceremony, but it wasn't anything special, and she and Sona kept blushing and staggering when they addressed me directly (Riser and Sairaorg were too busy fighting to interact properly). It was a certainly entreating time, but I wouldn't say that we created a deep bond over there.

I did keep in contact with Riser and Sona though. And I must say Sona is easy to talk to over the letters; I could even say she is the closest thing I have to a friend I have and Riser…well, I don't really know if we are friends, but he makes good background noise and is mildly entertaining, plus he is satisfied by literally any response I give, so he is also easy to talk too, I guess?

Rias is complicated. She is technically the most normal girl I know, she isn't like Sona, who is smart enough to carry on a deep discussion, or like Riser whose weirdness made it easy to roll with it. To talk with Rias would be talking to a seven years old girl as an equal, and that's surprisingly hard to do.

Some part of me knows that I'm only trying as an attempt distract myself from the Satan in my house and the potential calamity he could bring, and I honestly don't want to come off like a dick; she is a genuinely nice girl.

We did a good job of carrying on a somewhat nice conversation; she kept asking about the interesting places around the castle, and I kept filling her in, sometimes trying to work with the subject brought up by her questions.

Finally, we ended up back at the Gardens' gazebo, drinking tea like the stuck-up noble that we are.

"Hey, Elias."

"Hum?"

Rias was looking down with an uncertain look.

"What you said to my Brother before, do you really mean it?"

"About the Satans? Yes, I'm going to become one someday."

She thought about my answer for a few moments.

"Why do you want to be a Satan?"

…How to put it in an understandable way for a Seven-year-old?

"Because the Satans are the strongest right? I want to be the strongest." I nod wisely

"But we already going to be strong, we are pillars! Isn't that enough?" she tilted her head in confusion.

"I guess, but if we are going to be strong anyway, we might as well aim to be the strongest."

"Oh, Take makes sense." She nods.

What a weird fucking reaction.

Then she suddenly jumps from the chair, making her way closer to me.

"Hey Elias, you're pretty good with your shadow right. Sona told me so!"

Is that a question or a statement then?

"Yeah, I'm good with it."

"Then! Then…" she seems to mull over something, "Can you keep a secret?"

I raise my eyebrow at that. "Sure, what is it?"

Rias looked around the room for a few moments, confirming that we really are alone. In truth, there is a Battle Maid guarding the door and keeping her senses sharp, but I doubt that her 'secret' is really anything too serious.

She raises both hands parallel from each other, two bright Gremory magical circle appearing in both, a gentle pull from her magic and-

 _An open wound, spread on the foundation of reality._

It rages, it roars, it hungers, it _**hates**_.

It _**hates**_ space. It _**hates**_ time. It _**hates**_ everything.

Its sole purpose is to see everything that is become undone. To shatter the layers of the **Dream** , to quell the fires of **Infinity** , to choke the essences of **Light** , and perhaps to become the only hope against the future **Darkness**.

It's _**Destruction** **.**_

 _And it's sapient._

I am capable of registering pain, even if I'm not affected by it, but of every pain, I felt; from the constant crushing from an unfathomable pressure to the soul-dissolving taste of Infinity…this is the most pain I ever experienced.

Is that what a regular devil feels when they look at a Pure Shadow?

"The Power of Destruction." I burled out.

"Yeah." Came Rias' conspiratory whisper. She thankfully didn't notice my current state, focusing only on the thing, between her hands, "Incredible, isn't it…" she didn't really ask that in fact, it doesn't seem like she is paying attention to me at all, her shining eyes were locked solely on a single point, and her face held an incredibly satisfied smile.

I get that. I really do, I still became entranced by my shadows sometimes, but still, to play around with something like _that._

I take a risk and focus my eyes on the _gateway for the primordial destruction_ once again. This time, while the pain was still enormous; my sanity didn't immediately start to spill from my ears like before. And I manage to examine what exactly I was dealing with.

Not that it helped, I simply couldn't find words to describe what I was seeing, at least, not now, if the lessening pain was any indication for the future. But from what I could see, I noticed that it wasn't _precisely_ sapient, it has a semblance of sapience sure, not enough to be a fully functional mind but- wait, it does remind me of that - Yes, that's for sure, the other situation was a lot softer on myself, most likely for my affinity with the element. But the similarities…

It reminds me of the Abyss.

"Rias what it- Rias!" I called entranced girl.

"Oh!" she jumps a little that, meeting my eyes with the shock before promptly turning always with a blush. The Destruction Fissure was gone soon after.

"I inherited it, like my bother." She said happily, "But that is supposed to be a secret, father told me to wait until Sai manifest his own power. Or it would cause trouble or something."

That is not…

"Rias… why are you telling me this?"

"Because…Because!" She focuses back on my eyes, and this time held it here. "Could you pleeease help me with it. You're like a super genius to this kind of stuff, right?"

"Wait, what?"

Her eyes widen a little at my reaction. And she quickly tried to reiterate

"I mean, I can't get the thing to move, and, and I can only summon it with a magic circle helping me. Brother doesn't need them at all!" she huffs indignantly. "So, I thought if you help me out he will stop teasing me about it and winning the bets. Last time I had to keep hugging him for an hour, and he kept making weird faces…" she continues laying her points, getting more animated was she goes.

I really didn't expect this, more than the _interesting_ nature of the Power of destruction, I never heard of a pillar asking another to help with their inherited power.

But it gave me a chance to _observe_ the Power of destruction. Just like I did with the Phenex's regeneration.

"Rias. Hey Rias!" I called for her attention again; she looked a little embarrassed for getting carry away for a second time. "I never showed you our training grounds, didn't I?"

She sends me a radiant smile.

-0-0-0-

 **[Belinda Abamelik's Pov]**

"The perimeter is secure, all routes were blocked from civilian passage, the documents are in order, and the vehicle has been thoroughly inspected." My second in command dutifully gave her report. "We are ready to go ma'am."

"No, not quite." I pointed to the _pile_ of baggage still to be accommodated, sitting beside the dimensional train. " _Mister Oboa,_ what is the meaning of this!" I address the rat-like man accompanying us.

"HIH!" The repugnant station director squeals in surprise. Finally looking away from my and Fernanda's backside.

"Why aren't the baggage inside of the train? I gave _specific_ instructions that they are to be accommodated _at once_ , and yet they still are exactly where we put them, with _nobody_ to move them. Wasn't they supposed to be _your_ responsibility mister Oboa, this is your station after all like you kept _insistently_ announcing?"

"I-I... I mean-"

"Are you _doubting_ the importance of your client, mister Oboa, someone whose _entire station_ was closed to receive? Imagine his reaction if he arrived to see his belongings _abandoned_ on the floor. He would blame me, Mister Oboa, and I would gladly lay down my life to make off for this embarrassment, but rest assured that as my final act, **I would eviscerate your insignificant soul for this disrespect.** "

"HIIIIIIH!" The pathetic creature that claims to a Devil fell down with a terrified shriek, a dark patch growing on his pants.

"Now, you will go to your men, and you are going to make sure these bags are carefully accommodated inside the train. And by the Satans, this event will happen, or you and I will have words again, and I will not be as _kind and understanding_ as I'm being right now. Do you understand, Mister Oboa?"

"Ah…Ah…" his teary, snot covered face was pissing me off.

"Do. You. Understand?"

"Y-Y-YES!" he sobbed off.

"Then, _move_ ,"

He ran off, and the ambient was immediately more pleasant without him leering at us with his disgusting eyes.

"Headmaid Abamelik… Please, Forgive me." Fernanda bowed her head in shame. "I should never have relinquished such important task to these men. If only I had coordinated the Baggage organization like I supposed to…"

"Then Mister Oboa would have keep screaming about 'his authority' and possibly disturbed a more integral part of the operation." …And his annoying voice would have continued to brutalize my ears. "Do not try to bear the incompetence of those outside your command Fernanda. They are not your responsibility."

"But still…"

Always too hard on herself, this girl...

"You can oversee their actions if it makes you feel better. Or maybe review the operation once more. We still have time, and it certainly wouldn't hurt.

She immediately perks up at my suggestion

"Yes, Ma'am! I shall review the plans fifteen more times before their arrival. You can count on me!" She salutes me, before trotting purposely to fulfill her tasks.

"…That's way too much." I said with some amusement, but she was already outside earshot.

I allowed myself to sigh, dealing with incompetent morons and overly dutiful subordinates wasn't easy, especially after spending all morning making sure everything was prepared for Elias' travel.

I inspected the luscious train that was bound to take Elias on his trip to the Human world. It was an adequate vessel for someone on his station, a mighty locomotive with brand new luxury cars, each one equipped with top of the line equipment to make the somewhat long trip as comfortable as possible. It wasn't the new 'Bulltrain models' that are quickly rising in popularity amongst the nobles, as they aren't capable of supporting a dimensional spell core heavy enough to reach the Human World yet, but the preparation done has transformed a mere VIP dimensional train into something that resembles a Pillar-grade level of sophistication.

I review the travel plans once more in my head. He would be staying in the island country of Japan, an... oddly popular country for the Devils' nobility over these last few years, but no less an excellent choice. The lack of centralized supernatural government and the low influent of the Church made it an excelled spot to train young devils.

The City of Inaba was also a good choice; it's tightly under Devil's control since the 80's, and the recent murder streak should increase the demands for contracts.

He wouldn't go alone of course; he is too young to receive a territory to administer. Instead, he will be accompanied by a squad of handpicked guards to provide him protection, a group of lucky maids to take care of his daily needs, and no less than two members of Lord Dantalion's peerage to tutor him.

It was a common level of precaution for a noble Devil child staying in the Human world, but I still think it should be a bit more secure. This isn't a normal devil child after all; this is a _Pillar heir_ , if something happens to him…

…Well, at least Lord Dantalion didn't plan something _utter idiotic_ , like let him walk around in the middle of Church territory in the middle of nowhere, or send him out with a single peerage member and no additional personnel for reinforcements.

There are stories about some Noble children getting killed or kidnaped for far less reasons, and Elias will _not_ be one of them, even if I had to go there myself and _secure the entire country_.

No. Calm down, everything is fine, every step was triple checked, and everyone is prepared. Elias will have a terrific month learning about the Human world, and his future responsibilities there, and nothing bad will happen to him while he is there.

For a month.

An entire month.

An entire month far away.

...It should have been me.

I should be the one chosen to be with him! Not Lextrance or Nicola! I have been tutoring him for _years_ now, and I possibly have more experience in the Human world than anyone in the castle, and contracts. _Contracts_! I built the bulk of my career on contracts! Do you know how much Devil power the Soviet Union used!? There is _nothing_ I don't know about contracts. Lord Dantalion made a mistake in choosing two pureblooded devils to teach him, even if they are in his peerage.

However…

If I went with Elias, I would be leaving Lady Araneya alone, and to leave her alone now, right when she is about to spend a month without her son…

 _ **"WHERE IS HE!? I DON'T SEE HIM ANYWHERE! HE SHOULD BE IN MY ARMS! DID THEY TAKE HIM! NO! NONONONONONO! ELIIIIIIAS!"**_

Tiny scars began to burn in various places in my body as the memories of that night came…. I am better now, much better… But that sight, that beautiful and terrifying sight still burned into my mind.

My Lady is… fragile when Elias is not around; it's something I, and pretty much the entire staff noticed shortly after Elias was born. She had latched on to him in a worrying way, almost becoming dependent on his presence to function. I suspect it was something to do with the deaths of her family, a few of the many heroes who gave their lives in favor of the preservation of the Devil kind in the civil war.

She certainly retired from the battlefield because of it. That episode during that night must have sent her back to these times and brought her old powers to the surface.

And now, with an entire month without Elias. I don't know if I am going to capable of keeping her calm. She said that she could handle it, and she did make improvements over the years, but the heartbreaking anxiety that she presents after they stay apart for few hours still appear.

I sigh heavily.

Even if I'd like to be a part of such event in Elias' life, my beloved lady needs me.

"Woah! That's a lot of faces in so few minutes. Are you always this expressive when you think you're alone?"

"Silence Elias, I'm thinking about your mother right now."

"Oh, are they lewd thoughts?"

"Not this tim-ELIAS!"

"Yo!" He chirped with an adorable smile.

W-What was he doing here, shouldn't he be in the convoy coming here?

A righteous volley of questions burst through my throat and was just reaching my mouth when my brain finally caught up with what I had just said.

My reaction was instantaneous.

"This maid humbly begs for forgiveness for her insolent words." Waist bent ninety degrees. Head dipped in deep submission. "I'll understand if young master wishes to take my life was payment for this dishonor…"

"Is this the train that will take me to the Human world? It looks awesome! Do you think they'll let me see the spellcore?"

Completely ignored.

What should I do? Years of experience told to wait for young master's judgment. But everything I came to know about Elias told me that I was acting dumb.

Eventually, one side won.

"Elias!" I shouted, grabbing his shoulder to get his attention. "Shouldn't you be in the _highly secured_ convoy that isn't bound to arrive for at least another hour? A place where we know where you are and can properly protect you! Like it was part of the plan!"

"Oh! I got bored and went ahead, no big deal." He said calmly like he didn't just compromise months of careful planning.

"Went ahead? Went ahead!? That was incredibly irresponsible Elias! To traverse the city in a day where the people expect a pillar heir to pass through. Someone could have intercepted you on your way here; you could have been kidnapped, or, or killed, or even-"

"I'm here now Belinda, relax, you're beginning to hyperventilate." He grabs my hand and brings it to his cheek, nuzzling softly. It was… remarkably calming. "Besides, the convoy should be arriving in a few minutes. You got really distracted there; I even had the time to help out the guys moving the baggage before you noticed.

What!? I… I need to sit down.

Soon, where were both sitting on one of the station's bench, I was dealing with the fact that my Elias just put himself in a position of _extreme_ danger, seemly for no reason, while the devil himself was munching on a chocolate snack from the station vending machine.

He kept bouncing from where he was sitting, moving his body in animated motions, which was something rare to sight. For Elias to be acting like a proper child…

He must be really happy with this trip.

Which just increased the risk he put himself in! Not only the city was crawling with potential killers or pedophiles, but he was also _distracted_ while he was making his way through it.

His head falls on my shoulder as he brings his body close to my own. My arm unconsciously moved to envelope him.

My fingers began playing with the white locks, making it shine in curious ways as the light dances across the strands, the smell of lavender and happiness hit my nostrils.

Maybe… Maybe I was overreacting. He was here now, that's all that matters.

"What were you thinking about?"

"Hum?"

"About my Mother, what were you thinking?"

Oh, That! I felt my cheeks warming at the mention of that exchange.

"Nothing serious. It's just…" I feel a tad hesitant to express my concerns, but Elias already knows about his mother quirks. "You will be gone for days, Elias. I don't think Lady Araneya is prepared for that. Last time she spends too long without seeing you…"

 _Blood and Thorns._

Elias hummed, pressing his head against my hand for more affection "It's going to be alright, she got much better over the years, she can handle it."

"But still…" At most, she could spend half a day without her son, but she becomes extremely agitated by the end.

"Belinda." I look down to meet his deep ruby eyes. "My mother is strong, way stronger than her looks. Have faith in her."

I…

Have faith…

To think I spend decades admiring her for a far, years recognizing her strength where everyone just saw her as another Lady. And Elias is the one who believes her the most.

Yes, I just have to have faith.

"MA'AM, there has been an emergency!"

I was back on my feet at the moment that Fernanda's form disturbed the air inside the station. What is that about a sinful maid getting a bit too cuddling with her Lord? I don't know what you are talking about!

Anyway, Fernanda is probably here to report Elias 'disappearance' from the transports.

"If this is about young master, you don't have to wo-"

"The Documents ma'am they have been updated!"

What!?

I feel a deep wave of indignation from her words. A last moment change in the Documents right when everything was prepared accordingly to the old ones, right when Elias is ready to board this is simply _unacceptable_. Something will answer for this-

Fernanda's eyes were hard, and her posture showed that she was preparing for the worst…

There are more in these documents than it first seen.

I grab the paper from her hands, quickly going through the pages of the new Documents that will be used on the trip.

 _"Yo Fernanda, how's it going?"_

 _"Wh-EH?! LORD ELIAS!?"_

It was clear to me that there is a lot less documentation this time. There's seems to be a reduction of the numbers of people going, and the address of the mansion that was going to house them also changed- no the city itself changed.

KUOH TOWN!?

Six months ago I memorized every city in Japan in order to present my list of recommendation to Lord Dantalion. Kuoh Town was among the first cities I _disregarded._

The town was part of an attempt to spread the church's influence in the early nineties, since then, it has been a constant struggle for dominance between the church and the Devil faction, with brief periods of tense peace between. And lately, the situation got even worse with the arrival of a _Holy Sword_ user.

This is one of the last places on Earth I would want Elias in if anything this is-

A cold chill travel downs my spine as the implication set and I managed to see what Fernanda saw.

"Young master, stay close to me!" I pull Elias toward my body, laying a protective hand on his shoulder. "Fernanda, sound the alarm, have someone contact the castle about this new development, lock this place down until further orders. This is a priority Alpha."

The Documents were changed in the _very last moments_. Only my playful suggestion allowed Fernanda to catch the new plans. _This was meant to pass unnoticed_ , and that would mean that Elias would have gone to a highly dangerous area with _practically no escort_.

Someone set this up.

" **Calm down.** " The truth of the universe appears from Elias' mouth. " **You're both over-reacting, there is nothing wrong with the new documents, everything in it is easily acceptable**."

Of course, it is, how can Elias thrive without a little conflict on his lessons, Lord Dantalion made a perfectly reasonable decision, I don't know why I reacted like that.

I feel a bit silly now.

"Headmaid… Master Elias… Please, forgive me!" Fernanda bows in shame, her eyes gathering tears. "Once more I failed in my duties, to think I disturbed you for these trivial motives, I humbly as for you to punish this maid was you see it fit."

I let out a deep breath, slowly uncoiled my muscles,

"Raise your head, Fernanda, these news seems severe at first, you have done nothing that requires forgiveness from me, just make sure to read things more thoughtfully next time." I wasn't fooled by the document, not for a single moment... my face is an impenetrable wall.

"Man, you guys act so serious while on a mission," Elias extends his arms and gently pets Fernanda's bowed head. "There, there, all is forgiven, just be more careful next time."

...Why wasn't he done that to me earlier?

"Oh, looks like the convoy arrived."

As Elias finished his speaking, the station gates open briefly, just enough to let a person in and close back to keep the cold winds out, the sounds caused echoes throughout the empty station, as does the ones coming from the footsteps following it.

Wait, a single person?

A woman, not short but not exactly tall neither, she was carrying a modest size travel-bag, wearing a tasteful winter coat that travels down to her knees and warm leggings. She had pristine snow-white hair falling freely to her lower back and big red eyes hidden behind a pair of elegant oval glasses. She walked with a distinct bounce on her steps, like she was barely keeping from leaping in joy, this was especially evident was she got close, and we manage to see the happy smile on her face.

"Sorry, I'm late! I couldn't decide what outfit to bring, so I brought all of them!"

The world blurred as Fernanda and I moved between her and Elias.

"Identify yourself! Any other action will be taken as a-"

"Nah, don't worry, you arrived just in time." _And Elias was suddenly in front of her!_

"Lean down for just a second; I want to do something." And the woman did so with a curious look.

"ELIAS, COME BACK HER-URG!"

…

"W-Whoa" Fernanda breathed out beside me.

 _W-W-Who is this harlot!?_

When the sight that made my world lose any semblance of sense finally ended, Elias took the wobbly _cradle robber_ by the hand and led her to us.

"Ladies, I want to introduce you, someone." _T-this pervert looks like she is about to cum_ , her eyes kept dashing unfocused around the place, and her red, _swelled_ , lips were forming a dumb grin. "This is Bella, she is my girlfriend," a gasp comes from beside me. And the bitch _squeals_ like a happy pig. "Bella, meet Belinda and Fernanda; they are my maids."

The woman says something in response, but I was too busy thinking about ways to _write this mistake out of reality._

Wait.

The raging inferno growing inside was quelled in an single instant.

B-Bella?

Bella the…

I studied her face, trying to substitute the glasses from a blindfold in my mind, the heaving blushing and drool line only helped to make the connection, it was so accurately that cute cow ears appear on her head to complete the image. My eyes immediately travel down, noticing the _extremely evident_ bulge in her chest area, I felt myself salivating at the vision, and the memories it was bringing,

It was her!

She is…!

"M-Ma'am, o-orders ma'am, what should I do?"

DON'T FREAK OUT.

"Ah, Nice to meet you, miss Bella." I let my training take over and give a deep, respectful bow. Trying to turn my mind always from the new moisture between my legs.

It took a week for me to manage to talk to Elias normally after _that_ night. I…I didn't have time to grow accustomed to Bella, better to fall back to instinct and run to the bathroom later.

"L-likewise, miss." Fernanda followed suit beside me.

"My, my what polite maids you have Elly." She lets a strange but no less happy laughter, before grabbing the ends of the coat and rising briefly in a perfectly executed maiden bow. "My name is Bella, hehehe, please take care of me."

An involuntary shiver comes from the way her words sounded.

"Ok then, we're ready to go!" Elias announced happily.

I see then… Wait what!

There is nobody else here, no soldiers, no staff, and certainly no peerage members.

Does Elias expect to make this trip with just Bella!? Does he think he is going on vacation or something!? The purpose of this trip is to educate him about his future responsibilities, and that not even considering the lack of any security.

"Young master, I must protest!" I remarked firmly, the rest of the world stop mattering as I focused on my Lord's protection. "This trip is going to be extensively dangerous. Elias, you going to need someone by your side to protect you, and you can't simply neglect your studies like that!"

"Hm, what are you talking about, I'll have you to take care of that right?"

This brought me a little relief.

"Very well then, I will revise the papers at once! If you wait a few hours, I should be able to compose a team to…"

"No, silly, you're going with us. Didn't you read that on the papers? It's just me, Bella and you on this trip."

What?

Just, what!?

E-Elias, Bella and me.

Alone.

 _For a whole month._

"Yay!" A voluptuous figure grabs me with a thigh hug; I could practically feel the sparks in her eyes. "We are going to have _so much Fun!_ "

O-Oh dear.

-0-0-0-

 **[XXXXX's Pov]**

"Still here hã? Typical."

"Go away."

"Seriously, it has been thirty years already, that's way too long to be crying over a man, you're giving a bad name to the female gender."

"Shut up! You wouldn't understand! We had something special!"

"Azazel has 'something special' with everything that has a pussy and a pair of tits. You're just one more he got tired of."

" _Go away._ Mittelt."

I heard the blond girl sighed, before a source of light suddenly appears, making me turn away from the bedside lamp and bring the sheet over my head with a whine.

" _God_ , you're pathetic." Mittelt huffed, and the sound of something hitting nightstand followed. "But I'm not here to be disgusted by your image this time. I'm here on official business!"

I don't care. I will not look, nothing matters after that day, not Mittelt, not the Grigori, not even my dumb life! I will not look! No matter how curious I am!

… It was a folder with a small pile of papers inside, it stands out against the dusty nightstand, under the light of the lamp.

Mittelt noticed my attention. " _This_ is a mission folder, in case your tiny brain isn't strong enough to remember it. The command finally had enough from your tantrum and are officially putting your fat ass back to work! And you better respond this time, this is your last chance of doing so."

"Don't care. Get out." I turned away from the cruel light, my head going under the sheet once more.

Then, I let out a shout as she pinched my ass over the sheets.

"Didn't you hear me, you dumb bitch?" Mittelt voice was twisted in rage. "This is literally your last chance! Don't you know what happens when an operative spends too long without working? They're going to cull your ass!"

"I Don't. Care! Leave me alone!"

"FINE THEN! If you wanna get killed so badly then DIE!"

The blond stomped her way to the door. Traversing my messy room with practiced ease. She stopped just after she opens it.

"Just," She said not turning her head. "Pull yourself together Kalawarner. You're better than that." Then she closes the door.

…I tried to go back to the land of dreams where my beloved was waiting for me, but Mittelt's words kept bouncing in my mind.

Stupid Mittelt! What the hell does she know! She's all about promiscuity, and one-night stands, a woman like her will never know the pain from true love! Death, you said? For me that just an end to my suffering.

Why does she care anyway? Why bothering to keep visiting me? I'm already a casualty of love.

…

"GARHHH!" I throw the sheets away, getting out of bed for the first time in a week.

"FINE! I will do this stupid mission,"

Stupid Mittelt and her meddlesome nose…

I open the folder to skim over the details once before I went to the shower to prepare myself.

…Where the hell is Kuoh town anyway!?


	12. Interlude 2

Betas: this chapter was Beta'd by by eveakane and gaouw at QQ Forum.

Interlude 2.0

* * *

 **[XXXXX's Pov]**

There was a click as the door locked itself behind me, followed by the low thrum of power as the defensive thresholds reactivated themselves back in place. In just one second, the penthouse went back to be one of the most defended areas in town.

Only then did I allow myself to sigh and press my exhausted body against the door.

Home. No more paperwork, no more mysterious deaths, no more growing tensions, and no more seducing exorcists. Especially the exorcists. It's over, the day is finally over! The rest are my future self's problems.

I sighed once again, letting my body sag a little. Tomorrow it will begin all over again; the 'discussion' that will probably lead to nowhere and will inevitably lead to more conflict. The damn kneelers have been even more stubborn ever since someone began killing devils and church members, deaths that the church attributes to us, no matter how much I tried to argue. Those Satan-damned exorcists, can't they see that somebody is trying to manipulate us into war? And those deaths, who do they think we are to attributes such messy deaths to us? They should know by now that our deaths are way more elegant! Ugh, the nerve of some people!

I suppose, I too, would have blamed the deaths on the exorcists if we hadn't- if _I_ hadn't seduced one of them to my side. Yes! All part of the plan!

Now, if only that damn superior of his wasn't so lost in his own delusions…

"My Lady?"

 _"HIH!"_ I let out a refined sound of surprise.

"Apologies, my Lady." The Red-haired maid bowed. Her youthful appearance betrayed her age, it hid the fact that she held me on her lap when I was a child.

"…it's nothing, Melody. I have a lot on my mind that's all." A lot, that's an understatement. I have so much in my mind that I'm bringing work home with me, a place where I should be resting instead. I'm even getting distracted! What would my instructors say…?

"Should I summon miss Mei then to help my lady relax until dinner?"

"No, that won't be necessary." I met my Bishop's worried eyes, "Just continue with the dinner. I'll take a bath."

"As you wish, my lady." Only when the maid went back to the kitchen, I allowed myself to sigh again.

Three sighs in less than five minutes. It must be a record.

Finally, I move away from the door and into the Penthouse proper, watching its familiar decoration and furniture while trying to not be bothered by how empty it felt. Most of my Peerage are still out doing their duties, their arrival uncertain and always at a different times, I can't remember the time we're all together at the same time, but the church's recent movements, the worrisome reports of the fallen, and the deaths. We needed all devils on the field.

Only the stationary members were home: my highly efficient bishop, and my prized pawn.

And speaking of my pawn, I felt her distinct aura swash over me on the way to the bathroom. Seeing an opportunity, I let my guard down, suppressing my demonic energy enough for the aura to affect me.

Immediately, I felt my head becoming lighter, my body relaxing, and my worries melting away. And amidst all that, a powerful arousal begins to grow.

I raised my energy once again, just enough to not be enthralled by the feeling. It was a balancing act, but one that could have the same effect of hours of deep meditation if done correctly.

The sound of splashing water reached my ears, and my eyes were drawn to the glass wall of the living room, where I could see a voluptuous figure rising from the pool.

First, came the bubblegum pink hair, the vibrant locks that fell neatly around a breathtaking beautiful face and intense emerald green eyes. Next, came large mass of her naked breasts, bouncing attractively with each movement, it was followed by a soft looking midriff that ended up in a smooth pair of lips, the vision was crowned beautifully by a pair of long, endless legs.

The exotic bits; a pair of black horns that seems to be made of soft flesh, and a thin, black tail that ended in a heart-shaped point only seems to enhance the beauty of the image.

I knew that part of my leering attention was an effect of the aura, but a bigger part was a pure attraction for the fairest things in life.

"Welcome home, my king." Mei's sensual voice massaged my ears; it sounded clear even from a distance, even through the glass. One of the many quirks inherited from her old race, her voice could always be heard by anyone under the influence of her aura, no matter the obstacle.

A curious race, the Succubus. Like the Vampires, it was a race that draws power from the thing it feeds upon, in their case; Lust, but differently from the Vampires, the power is temporary and do not stack, at least not usually. Their power is proportional to the power of the partner they feed upon; one night of passion with a dragon would make a succubus extremely powerful, but if that same succubus sleep with a human on the next day, their power would violently decrease to human's levels. Because of that, their race has a history of symbiosis with others powerful races, they would frequently find themselves in a position of servitude to a more powerful lover, and that lover would gain a proportionally powerful servant to command, one that is incredibly skilled in bed to boot.

That would normally make them highly desirable race. However, they have deservingly acquired a bad fame over the millennia. The race, in general, have a tendency to use their many 'quirks' not to seduce, but to enthrall their lovers into obedience, the most common objective was to build a harem of powerful lovers, as sex with multiple partners is the only way for a succubus to stack the power they receive. That made them infamous as parasites, which caused them to be hunted down to near extinction.

Today, they have blended into the human society as an attempt to survive. A human diet lowered their power consistently to around a below average human magician, keeping just enough magic to hide their exotic parts, and activate their seduction abilities. That made them surprisingly difficult to track down because they fly under any radar.

What few devils know is that their kind causes a glitch in the mysterious evil piece system. They are all worth a single pawn piece to reincarnate, but they retain all their ability in their devil form, including the one where their power rises in relation to their lover. That way I could secure a succubus with the power equivalent to a high-class devil with the price of a mere pawn.

The hunt for her was also quite exciting; she kept evading me for months!

"My king," Mei's voice and body drew me out of my thoughts, the way she pressed her chest against the glass was quite attention-grabbing. "Do you wish for my services tonight?"

She asked with a succulent whisper, delicate eyelashes fluttering like glistering butterflies. How could I refuse her? Seeing the drops of water raining over her body, seeing her nipples hardening against the cold glass, seeing her hot, needy, breaths making marks of desire on the surface of the see-through wall. I will not reject her, I will not refuse her, in fact, I shall have her now-

I raise my demonic energy once again, ridding myself of the aura influence. Another movement of my energy confirmed my suspicion. Her aura was indeed more intense than normal.

She saw my weakness and tried to exploit it…

 _"Don't let your face show how their insolence affects you."_ My mind conjured the voice of my beloved brother, as it always did when the more difficult members of my peerage show defiance. _"Punish them, yes, but do so in moderation, even a child needs good spanking sometimes to teach them what they can and can't do. But you must deliver it in the right amount, just enough to properly discipline them without making them resent you. Do that and your Peerage will grow into a family more quickly then you expect. It's almost like magic."_ He'd always smile knowingly at the end.

She is the newest member of my peerage; she still doesn't know better.

My beloved child, why must you make me do this?

"Yes." I tried to keep my voice calm, showing just a hint of chilliness. My response made her open a triumphant smile. "You'll need to be punished for that transgression."

The smile didn't survive for much longer.

"My king, please," Her whole body language changed, her aura withered to a shadow of its former self, and she fell to her knees in a submissive bow. "I-it was a harmless prank!"

It wasn't. I'd seen her use her abilities for pranks before, I laughed at them together with her, I pouted in good natured sullenness when they targeted me; I know her pranks, I know her seduction technics, I know her. This was a power play.

"No, it was not. We both know that." I echoed severely, then manifested my frustration with a sigh, "Why do you make me do this child? Can you see that I have your best interests in mind? Can you see that I want only your happiness?"

Mei had lowered her head with the bow, but I could see my words affecting her; her wet body shuddered, her head bowed even lower.

"Well?" I insisted after a few silent moments.

"I-I'm so sorry." Her voice came small, weak. The quiet sob that followed almost broke my heart. "My King…Cleria, I…I don't know what I was thinking."

I must stay strong, this is for her own good.

"Mei, look at me." She raised her face at my call. Even with the tears marking her eyes, she was beautiful. "You will be punished tonight." She lets out a tearful sob, but nodded, "It will only be half the usual, and you will sleep with me afterward, understand."

"Y-Yes, thank you, my king. I will be better." She swore, cleaning the tears with her arms.

"That's all I ask, my beautiful Pawn." With a final, reassuring smile, I turned and crossed my way to the bathroom.

I fear that I'd hug her if I stayed. That would betray the purpose of the punishment, and that can't happen; I must be a proper King for the sake of my peerage. A foolish king, one that is too hard, or too soft, ends up with _strays._

That will not happen, not to _my_ pieces.

A sigh, the fourth one; the stress has built up again.

As I entered the bathroom, I sent a wave of energy to activate the spells bound to the tub; it would full itself with water in the perfect temperature in just a few seconds. Another one of the spells created from lord Beelzebub's research and development team, they are said to be revolutionizing the modern's devil lifestyle, and, seeing the tub rapidly filling with water, I can attest to that.

Clothes fell to the floor and the coldness of the air hit my body. In the mirror, I could see a figure with silver hair, and a tanned body shaped by prodigious genes and rigorous training.

"Breathtaking", I have been called. "A hot piece of ass", has been whispered from my back. "Just perfect"... He'd smiled when he said that.

But he was only human. His eyes can only see so much.

Me? I could see the shadows beneath my orange eyes; I could see the lack of brilliance in my silver locks, I could see the worry mark on my skin. Tiny imperfections that have been accumulating on my form over the last few months.

And still no response from the underworld. I wish I could go there myself to see what is keeping them, but with the way things are, I fear what could happen if I left in such a crucial time. We could lose hold of the city, or worse, elevate the conflict with the church into a war.

I lean over to rest my forehead against the cold mirror. Even at home, I can't stop worrying about it. Hell, even when I'm with Mei or one of the others the situation never stays out of my mind for too long. The only time I can get a rest lately is…is…

Yaegaki.

I was almost there if it hadn't for these _damn_ deaths, and the damn church increasing their demand. We were almost... He was about to accept it, my beloved knight…

I sighed for the fifth time, which was not good, I'm beginning to act like my brother.

With an aching head, I move to enter the embrace of warm water-

Perhaps it was the tension in my senses; maybe it was the years of severe training, but I manage to see it. There, in the mirror, in the corner of my eyes, just as I was turning my face; there was a speck of light.

My body bends over before I could even register the flash. The dagger passed right where my back used to be. In the movement, I threw my leg into a back kick, aiming at the figure beside me.

I felt the kick being blocked and twisted my body to the left to dodge the next dagger thrust; this time a grapple attempt accompanied it.

My mind finally caught up with my instincts, showing me that I was in a precarious position and needed to get out of it fast. The figure was skillfully pressing me against the cover of the bathroom, taking the space from where I could move.

I interrupted the grapple with a palm strike, dodging the dagger once again; this time the blade met my skin for a second, the figure was almost looming over me now.

It was evading my vision, keeping itself behind me. It knew what I could do.

The blade met my back at the same time my kick hit the wall. The movement threw me inside the figure's guard and cost me a long but shallow cut just under my ribs. But my hasty move made it stumble backward, which allowed me to roll away from its grasps.

With the distance between us, I managed to get a proper look at the assassin. She, and it was definitely a she, was wearing a skintight leather bodysuit over the voluptuous curves, more voluptuous than even Mei, her face was hidden by a silver mask, and her hair was tied in a tight bun. She wields an elegant dagger and nothing more.

Part of my mind was wondering why the hell she was using a direct approach when her body was clearly meant for sexual assassination, another part was trying to find any clue for her association, and the biggest part was gathering energy to form a circle.

In the same second, her free hand flashes with an already formed circle. I didn't have enough to use my ability in time, so I resorted to a shield.

The blue jet of fire hit with physical force, it threw me through the bathroom wall and beyond. My arm burned until I pushed more energy into the shield. All around me blue fire smashed forward with worrisome speed and overwhelming sound.

I felt myself break through the last wall, and suddenly was out of the flames and falling. The burning penthouse became more evident as I fell away.

She blew up my home. The bitch blew up my home! Must have sacrificed herself with that last explosion too, how else could she have produced enough magic to overcome the entire threshold in one go.

I spread my wings and stop myself in mid-air. This isn't good; the explosion must have drawn atte- MY CHILDREN!

I desperately expand my senses, trying to feel Melody and Mei, and-

 _DODGE!_

I followed my screaming instincts. A blue line passed beside me, blowing a piece of building somewhere further away, the fireball moved so fast that I could only see the trail it left.

I locked my eyes to the silhouette on the fire and felt my _fury_ rising.

That bitch is still alive! She blew up my penthouse and still alive!

 **I will keep her alive for a very long time after this.**

A volley of fireballs rained down on me; they didn't seem so fast now that the surprise ran out. I said they are only a little bit faster than bullets; the bitch must be using wind to increase their speed.

I dodged automatically while I gathered my power, my wings bringing me higher and higher. She was using fire and wind, that is highly unusual for an assassin, and she certainly doesn't mind the collateral damage. But that doesn't matter, all that matter is that I know what she is using now. My power would do the rest.

The last fireball was bigger than the others. I saw through her plan immediately, so when it passed I made sure to brace myself, and sure enough; the following explosion held an unnaturally vicious shockwave, but instead of destabilizing me as she indented, it boost me higher, to a position where I could see the entire burning top of the building. Gotcha _bitch!_

 ***Worthlessness***

All fire within my field of vision was nullified in an instant. Suddenly the building was free of any burning parts, and more importantly, nothing to block my vision. The next one would nullify her _heartbeats-_

She wasn't there.

Nobody was there, in fact, Melody and Mei weren't there neither. Where?

 _That last fireball!_

My wings jerked when I felt the assassin latching on to me. They unconsciously tried to find stability, but a tight grip got in their way. As we began falling, I threw my fist in her direction to aim-.

 _Pain!_

"AGRH!"

What the fuck-MY WING!

 _"BITCH!"_ I screamed with all the fury I could muster. "MY WING, MY FUCKING WING! **I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"**

How the fuck did that happen!? Devil wings are stronger than steel, how did she cut it! How did this bitch do it!?

The dagger! IT WAS A FUCKING DEVIL SWORD!

"Hehehe."

Was that a giggle?

Did this bitch just giggled at me!?

 **THAT'S IT!**

My demonic energy _exploded,_ it moved through my being in endless pulses of power, my fury transforming it into Primal Force.

 _Thunder_ burst from my body.

I barely registered the pain, my fury was making me powerful, my anger was pushing me further, and most importantly, the sweet screams of pain were giving me focus.

The woman bit back her screams and loosen her hold, pushing away to get away from the lightning. I would not allow that.

With my other wing, quickly maneuvered myself in her direction, jabbing to finger at her slutty body. My anger made something that I always had struggled through life come easily, and thunder roared without a hint of a circle.

Jumping away from me was a bad move. Now, I didn't need to keep lightning directly on my body. Now I only needed to channel it in another direction.

Meaning that all I got was a tingling arm, while the Bitch got the full charge of it.

My mouth curled into a vicious smile as I watched the bitch scream and thrash mid-fall. My other arm was quick to join the first one, increasing the intensity of the lightning.

Oh, it was a beautiful thing to see, the bitch's turbo-whore body being enveloped by brilliant arcs of lightning, the sweet, sweet sound of her voice screaming with intense pain. I could only imagine her flesh and leather melting and fusing under the intense heat, her little white hair evaporating leaving a burned scalp in its place. Yes, I'll make this whore pay for what she has don-

 _*Thud* *Crack*_

"A_ _AGRH!"_ I manage to let out the breath that was locked in my throat. My body hit the ground with a low thud sound, around me were burning detritus of the penthouse that had fallen first.

Fucking forgot we were falling.

I twisted my body to the side, raising myself slightly. I could see my broken leg. My brain registered the familiar pain; I must have fallen on a bad angle.

Shit, I'm on the streets? It must be crowded by now- it was not, I was utterly alone, only me and the fallen detritus. Not a human in sight.

Only then did I noticed the _lack_ of sound, the lack of the distant white noise that was part of life in a city, something that stood out immensely if it went missing.

I'm in a fucking pocket dimension! It explained why Melody and Mei were nowhere to be seen. That was bad, that was very, _very_ bad, because it means that someone was maintaining this place. The bitch isn't working alone.

A groan echoed from somewhere around me, and my anger resurged.

I looked up to the fallen assassin ahead of me. Her silver mask had fallen off, there was only a facemask hiding her identity.

I jump toward her, using my three good limbs to crawl the rest of the way.

"Alright, you bitch!" I tried my best to straddle her, my bad leg made it difficult, but she was still suffering from the after effect of the lightning. "You are going to tell me how you work for, and what your partners are capable of." I pulled her mask down- And came face to face with the most beautiful woman that I ever saw.

What. That. Fuck. Why is someone like her so beautiful, a fucking assassin bitch can't have a face like that! A fucking WING-CUTTING whore like her _do not deserve it!_

I didn't know when I had grabbed her slender neck, but I felt the anger rise again, a part of my tried to gather the Worthlessness, but it was _too slow._

The lightning rose once again.

 _"HYAAAHHH!"_

"You will die slowly!" I shouted over her sweet screams. "You heard me, you pretty bitch! I will make you regret ever taking this job!" The slut's body thrashed under me in an almost sexual way, "I'm going rip those stupidly big breasts off and make you eat it! I'm going to tear your fingers one by one! I'm going to nail your ears to the floor and melt your face in! Do you understand? I'm going to _tarnish_ you to death!"

At that moment, all my anger manifested in lightning; it brought a flash of brilliance so intense that it overtakes the world in a flash of light- Nnngh?-

It came slowly… almost gently really, in one second the world was made of pure light and lighting, in another, half of the world became darkness, and I felt something touching my entire left side.

Then, I was flattened against that darkness. It waved forward with the tectonic might of a continent moving and swallowed everything.

…The next concrete feeling I had was my body bouncing on the street. My hearing restarted next, sending an odd tingly sound to my brain, like an army of plant life was charging into battle. Next, came my nose, which didn't send me anything useful, just the smell of blood. But my vision made no sense.

It showed me the darkness.

I was rolling in it, like a small child at the shallow end of the beach. Waves upon waves of darkness splashed around me, sometimes overtaking the entire world as it passes over my head.

My ability to think only returned after I stopped, which was unlucky for me because the pain came next.

I openly gasped when I felt it; it was all over my body, all over my naked skin, little flares that burned with an unnatural intensity. I gasped once more, this time to hold back the scream, then I made the mistake of opening my eyes

There was no holding back the scream this time.

I wasn't in a sea; I was in a bush! The darkness wasn't water; it was vines!

 _I'm tangled in a thorn bush!_

 _Terror_ crashed on my mind; I began to thrash, grab, pull, push, anything I could do to run away.

 _I have to get out of here._

And more and more, the vines tangled themselves around me, they cut, pierced and tore into my flesh. The smell of blood intensified.

I don't know when I went limp, only that I couldn't move anymore; my arms and legs were enveloped in clumps of bloody vines, my body felt raw and ached in pain. I couldn't think of a way out. I don't have strength to fight anymore. I-I lost... I'm going to die... I can't...

Please, I don't want to die.

Then, the vines retreated, leaving only the ones holding me in place. It kept my body over the floor, hanging only by my limbs. And the world appeared once again, the mass of vines formed a wall around me, but it opens at the part immediately in front of me.

What the fuck.

What have I been thinking!?

The pain? It still hurt like a fucking bitch, but I was trained to bear it, it wasn't that overwhelming sensation anymore.

My magic? It's still here, I can't believe I didn't even think about using it.

And the terror? The panic? The burning need to escape?

The fucking bush! It was fucking with my mind!

What the fuck is that anyway!?

 _"…alright, my lady?"_

 _"Yeah, don't worry. I'm used to being electrocuted, at least it wasn't anywhere intimate this time."_

Voices, two women, talking in Russian, I raised my head to look at them.

One was _the bitch_ , she had let her hair down and was…doing stretches!? She looked fine, _infuriatingly_ fine even, aside for the dirt and the burned leather clothes, there was nothing that tells she was fighting.

The other was an attractive blonde maid that had her hair in a ponytail; there was nothing about her that really stand out, except her eyes. Her green eyes were dead, they lacked any emotion, and didn't show any sign of conscience, I remember seeing eyes like that in some black ops exorcists the church produced.

"Besides! Ely's love made me super tough! It didn't even hurt that bad."

"I'm glad, my lady."

"Sooo, how did I do?"

"You have committed ninety-eight tactical errors, thirteen critical errors, and broke the self-made promise of not using your bloodline ability; my advice is to meditate on the fight and do better on the next one."

"Mooou, you didn't need to be so blunt robo-Linda. Normal-Linda would have been more forgiving."

"My apologies, my lady."

…They were chatting.

Heh…Hehehe…These guys, they came to my house, tried to kill me, managed to defeat me, and now they are having a casual chat.

Hahaha. What a funny situation.

I **pulled** that was left of my demonic energy, transferring all of my being into the Worthlessness, putting everything I had in that last shot.

 _These bitches are in my field of vision._

"ARGH!" A gasp of pain escapes my lips as the vines began to move again. They spread my mangled limps apart to their limits. My legs felt like they were about to pop out of my pelvis.

No matter, I don't care what happens to me anymore, all that matter was that last shot, all that matters is to make these _BITCHES_ _ **PAY!**_

 _ ***BLINDING. PAIN.***_

its hurtss.

its hurtss. its hurtss. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. its hurts. . . . . . . .ItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurts _ItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurtsItshurts_ _ **Itshurts.**_

Ah.

What is happening?

Is someone screaming?

Oh…

 **"IMSORRYIMSORRYISORRYISOORYSH PLEASE GRAHHH NO! PLEASE! DON'T MOVE IT GARHHHHHHHHH!**

My world burned, everything screamed, and moved, and thrashed. My lower regions became a kaleidoscope of pain and flames; everything burned, and scraped, and burned, and cut, and burned, and pierced, and burned.

"Aahhh! NO ABBY! BAD GIRL!" A voice cut through the universe of agony. "That's only for the worse of enemies! She doesn't deserve it! Yes! Even if she was trying to do something funny! Now _take it out!"_

It was over, that horrible fullness was over. It left only embers and soreness in its wake. The current pain left is a cozy massage compared to the one from before.

I tried to raise my head, tried to get control of my sobs, tried to not focus on _the dripping._ My efforts were all in vain. There was nothing left of me; the humiliation has taken everything, leaving only a violated husk inside.

A leather bond hand cupped my chin and raised my head for me; I can see face to face with the assassin- wait.

That snow-white hair, those ruby eyes... I remember those... Where did I see them?

The words hit my mouth before my mind could properly process them. My voice came hoarser; its passage was like rubbing sand on my throat.

"DnA…uuGrh…Dantali…Dantalion?"

The ruby globes sparked with happiness.

"YES! We met once when you were very small, in the Sallos heir engagement party. It's me, aunty Araneya! You called me Snow Princess back then. It was so cute! I'd definitely pitch your cheek if I could go back in time." The woman put her hands on her cheeks and let out a happy sound. "And you grew into such a powerful devil, little Cleria. I don't think I would be able to win without Abby.

Araneya Dantalion, I knew who she is, the entire underworld knows who she is, the mysterious beauty of the Dantalions, a Lady who only made brief appearances over the centuries, but is regarded as one of the most beautiful women of the underworld.

 _She_ attacked me!? An unprovoked attack from the Dantalions, _the Dantalions!_ One of the most peaceful of the Pillars!?

"Why?" I manage to rasp out.

"Why what?-Oh! Well, I recently began training again after a few centuries of stagnation, and I wanted to show the result to my Elly. So, I asked him if I could kill you or one of your pieces as a test! We were going to take over the city anyway, so I saw no harm in it. I, didn't think my opponent would be you, but Elly said I would be able to do it, and I did it!" The women smiled dreamily. "As expected of Ely, Hehehe~"

T-This was crazy, to launch an attack on a pillar for such banal reason. I tried to be angry, I tried to be horrified, but I just didn't have the strength for that anymore, everything felt so cold and far away.

But I can't let it end like this!

"There will be… consequences" I tried to snarl, but it came out more like a cough. "My bother…The Belial family…they will never let this down."

"Or don't worry about that sweetie! After you die, we will all be friends!"

What did she say?

Suddenly the vision of my left eyes was entirely covered by the tip of her finger.

"Now, don't move, I still hadn't mastered this technique yet, and I prefer to not cause you any unnecessary pain. Well, more than Abby already caused you anyway."

I blinked, and Araneya Dantalion's singsong voice reached my ears.

 _"Shiiiigan~."_

* * *

 _A/notes:_ For the non Light novel readers: Cleria Belial was the old governor of Kuoh Town before Rias and Sona. She was the cousin of Diehauser Belial, who he considered a little sister, she was in a romantic relationship with Masaomi Yaegaki, an exorcist from the Protestant Church and former subordinate of Irina Shidou's father. However, since their relationship was forbidden, both she and Masaomi were killed to protect the status quo of both Heaven and the Underworld... there are some more to that story, but I'll coyly leave it out, you can read the light novel if you want to know(The translation is free, just google it).


	13. Chapter 10

Betas: This chapter was beta'd by by eveakane and gaouw at QQ Forum.

Chapter 10.

* * *

"This is the smallest that we could prepare on such short notice." Cleria Belial regarded me with a tired smile. "It would be easier if your requests were of the usual size and luxury, but I believe this one fits them very well, even if it's a bit bigger than what was asked."

I glanced over the sizeable middle-class house that the region's governor has given to us. It was a respectable house built in a mixture of western and eastern architecture. It was nowhere near the level of glamour and luxury I had grown used to, and that made it perfect.

Mother also approved by the look of it; she had run inside as soon as the limo stopped, letting an adorable squeal along the way. Belinda followed on a more sedated pace, choosing to secure the perimeter first, and was circling around the house putting wards and thresholds on the walls, the... flock of pigeons that she was turning into familiars following her.

Once again, I looked at the pigeons and wondered, _why?_

"It's perfect! Just how I imagined," I remembered to send an enthusiastic reply. "Thank you! And, um… sorry for troubling you."

"It's alright kid," One of the things I appreciated from Cleria Belial was her willingness to actually drop the honorifics when I asked her to. She treated me less like a visiting Lord and more like a friendly guest. "I know how it feels to want something different than the high society standards, believe me. Just be careful if you're passing the north side ok? That's the church's territory, and they've been pretty jumpy lately." That alone would make the presence of a Pillar child an unthinkable prospect, but she didn't even question this. "Beyond that, it's a cozy town to live. There are some pretty interesting individuals too, I'm sure you will make plenty of friends!" Her smile became more relaxed. "Also, remember to speak in Japanese ok? People there don't usually know Russian."

"Will do, thank you again for receiving us in your city." I made a formal Japanese bow.

"Ma. Ma. There is no need for that." She waves her hair with a hand elegantly, trying to hide her embarrassed blush. "Call me if you need anything ok? I left my number with your bodyguard."

After that, she went back to the limo and drove away. I keep my eyes on the back of the vehicle as it moved down the street.

Cleria Belial made a good impression on me. On our way here, she showed herself to be an attentive, fun, and hard-working woman. She also talked about her town and her peerage with genuine care. I found myself liking her quite a lot. However, I do not regret what I did to her. I can't afford to have her report my presence to the underworld. It's bad enough trying to hide it from the church.

This was my vacation dammit! I'll not have someone ruining it! I have _plans_ for this town!

"Elias." Belinda approached me from behind.

"Ah, Belinda! Have you finished with the wards?" I asked cheerfully.

"Yes sir, the perimeter is secure for now, I will do the more time-consuming rituals later." She coughed and took out a stack of paper from her dress pocket, "For now though, I would like to initiate your first lesson in summoning."

"Ehh, but we just got here." Technically, we got here yesterday, but she was in a trance most of the time. Still… "Can we wait until evening at least?"

"The first summoning lesson is a bit special, the theoretical explanation doesn't take very long but the lesson will stretch throughout the entire day, it's best for us to begin early." She smiled. "It's not hard, and you can do other things after the explanation."

Well, I _am_ curious about the subject. From what I gathered, summoning is one aspect of devil society that changed the most. All the books I read about the subject were grossly outdated; they don't match what I had seen in canon at all. A little more explanation would be helpful.

"All right," I conceded, "Shall we go inside then?"

The inside of the house was just as perfect as the outside. Again, the combination of styles was quite charming, and the modest but elegant furniture fit the ambience quite well. It was almost a pity that I only get to see it for a few seconds, as soon as I entered the house; a white missile of warmth and softness assaulted me.

"ELY!" Boomed Mother, burying my face in the place where it was meant to be. "There is a Japanese style bathroom, Ely!" She shouted, her voice dripping with delight. "Let's take a bath together!"

And how would that be any different from any bath we had at home?

Ah well, I'm not one to deny such a generous offer-

"Bath? _Miss Bella!_ " Belinda reminded us that she was there. "I understand that your… role, is vital for lord Elias's healthy development. But you are overstepping your boundaries!" She argued feverishly, failing to fool any of us.

"Ehhh, but it isn't something that we hadn't done before." I could hear the coyness in my mother's voice as she teased the maid. "Or, could it be... you want to join us in the bath, Belinda?" By the strangled sound this produced, she wasn't far off the mark. "You only need to ask silly! We are more than happy to bring you. In fact, _I insist."_ Damn, she added the purr-like effect at the end. It was dangerous; it certainly affected _me_.

"Gurh!" Hah! I'm not the only one affected. "S-such insolence!" Belinda tried to snarl, but the squeaky voice lessened the effect. "Y-you are a mere c-concubine, know your place!" Man, her face must be a sight to behold.

Do I move to see her adorable blushing face, or stay here in the land of happiness and marshmallows? Goddamnit, why is life presenting me with such hard choices!

"Pet." Mother's seductive voice continued unbothered. "It's 'Know your place, pet!' you must learn to chastise me properly if you want to keep playing with us."

I could practically hear Belinda's mind crashing.

Holding back my laughter, I popped my head out with a practiced movement and addressed Mother. "Sorry pet, the bath will have to wait a moment. Belinda is going to teach me about summoning, and it's important for me to know."

If I let this continue any further, it would undoubtedly end up with the three of us naked in the bathroom, and while that is a _very_ attractive image, my lessons are important too. Belinda has no chance of denying 'Bella' because anything my pet says and does are super effective against her, at least for now, so it falls to me to keep some semblance of order in this vacation; otherwise, we won't even leave the house.

Mother started to look sad when I began talking but was positively ecstatic when I stopped.

"Oh right, summoning lessons! I remembered those, they're so fun!" She eyes sparkled as she recalled her memories, they literally burst through our mental bridge. "You get to act as hammy as you like and mess with human's heads! It's so easy too, they get impressed with any little magic you use, and their contracts are never too difficult to pick holes into." She continued to, maybe unconsciously, show me memories of her messing with some medieval dudes. They were, admittedly, very funny. "You just have to be careful with the perverts... although sometimes, they were kind of fun too."

I-Is that a satanic orgy!? Whoa, who would have thought?

"T-That's not how summons works at all!" Belinda finally recovered and took me from Mother's memory lane. "Maybe a century ago there was something like that, but today things are very different. How long has been since the last time you've been summoned?" She asked Mother, managing to catch her with her guard down.

"Err. A while." Mother offered. Then she blinked, an idea flashing through her mind and made her smile a bit too wide.

Belinda and I suddenly knew what it meant.

 _"Anyway,"_ The maid sighed, resigning to the fact that there would be another student today. "We are wasting time. Let's just get on to the lesson then we can take that bath."

"So you _are_ going to take a bath with us." For once I manage to tease her faster than Mother.

Belinda stumbled on her steps; "I-I-" Mother cut her with a fit of giggles, making her turn her face in an attempt to hide her red face. "Let's go to the table already!" She moved.

*Crack!*

"I-I will fix it tomorrow!"

-0-0-0-

"Now, you two now about Soul energy, right?" Belinda inquired, gaining a nod from me and a headshake from Mother.

We had moved to the dining room. Belinda sat in front of us and had laid the stack of paper on the table. Mother sat down and immediately glued herself to my side because I was now too big to comfortably sit to in her lap in this type of chair. I was using her breast as a pillow because of course, I was.

"Soul energy is the metaphysical energy that constantly leaks out human souls," Belinda explained professionally. "It's one of, if not the, most mysterious energy in the world, on account of no one being able to study it properly, as it is extremely difficult to contain or even detect. And the only reliable way Devilkind could have used to research it has been illegalized by the Satans." She means we don't rip human's souls anymore. "The other two factions are, unfortunately, more knowledgeable than us about this subject, with reports saying that Heaven utilizes it in great quantity to fulfill whatever they need. They know the energy by the name of 'Faith'. That said; we Devils do have our own ways of utilizing this energy. It has been proven that with a proper ritual, a Devil could use Soul energy to permanently increase their power, so we perfected the ritual as far as we could, and the result was the contracts."

Over the course of her explanation, Belinda began to get into it and was started to enunciate her tone and punctuating her words with gestures. We both almost died from the cuteness.

"Contracts are nothing more than a magical ritual of Soul energy transfusion." She turned to Mother. "What you know about contracts is very in-line to what they used to be. They were a bargain between a Devil and a human, where the Devil usually provides a kind of service and the human pays the price, the transfer of energy happened after the completion of the contract, and the price the human paid was usually considered a bonus reward." She leaned forward with a finger raised, looking intently at us. "However, these kinds of contracts, the Old Contracts as they are called now, were extremely dangerous." She huffed as if to accentuate her warning. "The danger came from the very nature of the bargain, if a deal is struck then they _had_ to be completed, the devil gained an intense compulsion to do so, and suffered terrible consequences if they failed or it became impossible to fulfill. Many Devils have become slaves of cunning humans because of that; some are still in possession of old Magician associations to this day. Because of that, great effort has been made, and are still being made, to modify the ritual to be safer for the Devils, it all culminated in the modern summoning system." She finally pulls one of the papers for the stack and shows it to us.

"Ah, Teleportation!" Mother exclaimed, her eyes tracing the familiar magical circle.

"Not quite," I commented absently. It was certainly based on the Dantalion's teleportation circle, but it had a different outer layer, four more intersections, and seventy-eight new scripts. Now, how to translate this into a normal expression? "It has more lines." Nailed it.

"Elias is right," Belinda said with an amused smile. "This here is a partially complete ritual in paper form, the only thing missing is the human element. This is the new kind of ritual available for the Devils, and it's completely safe because it doesn't compel the Devil to fulfill it. Nowadays, the Devil will offer his services for the Soul energy alone, this not only increases our reputation because we don't take something precious to a human each time, but we can also encourage the human to call us again. In the most successful cases, the Devil and the Human will establish a client-contractor relationship, and the Devil will regularly be summoned. This provides a steady supply of Soul energy for the Devil and makes the human rely more and more on Devil power." Belinda smiled devilishly in the last part. "There is actually a small compulsion for the human on this case. When a human summons a Devil once, they become prone to do it again, and very soon they are going to do so on a weekly or even daily basis!"

"Ehh, I kinda liked the Old ones better," Mother pouted cutely, "There was a thrill about knowing that you couldn't mess up when twisting contracts or there would be terrible consequences. And the things you got from it were almost always worth more than the energy."

Belinda blushed and coughed under her hand. "There are some Devils who also think like that." By the way she said that I realized that the 'modern way' is more modern than I thought.

"M-moving on." Belinda staggered, probably noticing my knowing grin. "While the modern method is better and safer than the old one, there are a few disadvantages to it. For starters, they are not capable of summoning the Devil across dimensions like the old one, in fact, their range is so small that the Devil is required to be in the same city for them to work, though some considered that to be an advantage because it's easier to control the area of the summon this way. The other is an obvious one, where we don't get the 'bonus price' that the human is compelled to give out, and the last, and definitely the worst one," Belinda drew a breath as if to brace herself, "The amount of energy gained is considerably smaller than the old contracts. So, it means, that will take longer for a Devil to strengthen themselves using this method."

I heard Mother letting out a small gasp beside me. That wouldn't sound so shocking for a human, but these are devils we're talking about. We are a race _obsessed_ with strength, for us to choose a longer method to get stronger, even if the increase in strength is guaranteed and the method is more efficient…did we even have a choice on that matter?

"How much is the difference?" I couldn't help but ask.

Belinda's lips thinned, she took a few seconds before answering.

"The latest report say that it takes a hundred modern contracts to gain the same amount of energy from a single old one."

Holy shit!

"But!" She quickly added, "There are teams working on improving the ritual, and it's far better than the initial a thousand-per-one mark. All signs point to the modern contracts becoming just as beneficial as the old ones…eventually."

Still, that's downright creeping crippling for the devil race until then. There are other ways to get stronger of course, but to have one of them blocked like that…

Well, the Devils are a lot more humane now, and they are way more prone to human empathy or trickery, so perhaps it's for the best.

"What about the old contracts?" Mother asked curiously.

"There are still some instances of it. They are not _illegal_ , unless you ask for a soul. But they are not distributed anymore," Belinda explained. "There are plans to eradicate any records of them once the new method is perfected enough to give a similar amount of power. They are considered too risky to make, and the Satans' advice is to keep to the modern methods."

So that's how contracts work huh? I am sure that covered all the gaps in my knowledge about them.

"So I have to leave traces of my magic in them, right?" I said, gesturing to the papers. "To get it to work."

"Actually, no." Belinda smiled. "That would be the case if you were a normal devil, but the Pillar families are bound to their symbols, so you only need to put the Dantalion symbol in the circle to be summoned, though you do need to link it to any servant or peerage members if you want them to be summoned with the same symbol."

"But what if there were many devils linked to the same symbol, how do we know who is going to be summoned?" I asked, picking one paper from the pile.

"The intention of the human takes care of that," Belinda answered easily. "If it is their first time summoning, then it will be whoever is closer to the summoning point."

That is…slightly problematic. Belinda probably thinks I'm the only one linked to the papers, but if it's the Dantalion's symbol, then there is a possibility of Mother being summoned. I'm not worried that Belinda will find out would that Bella is Mother though, if that happens the knowledge will slip from her mind. I'm more worried about Mother, and more importantly 'Abby', being _suddenly_ transported to an unfamiliar place. The Abyss has mellowed down a lot over the years, but it's not wise to startle it.

"Then." Belinda picked up the pile and threw it to the side- and the fluttering of a dozen wings fill the air as each of the pigeon familiars snatched a paper and flew away through the window.

So _that_ was what they were there for!

"Now, all we have to do is wait. It's more effective to change the familiars' form into attractive females to hand the papers in the form of pamphlets, but sooner or later one of them is going to fall into the hands of a human with sufficient desire." Belinda continued. "That is why I said the lesson would stretch throughout the entire day. It can take a while before that happen." She turned to me. "I'll be accompanying you on your first summoning, of course."

"A _ha!"_ Mother rose from the table triumphantly, "I knew it! This is all a plot to spend all day together with Ely!"

"What! No! I'm just doing my duty as his instructor!" Belinda argued, with a blush rapidly forming.

"Hehehe, and what would you do if he isn't summoned during the day. Will you sleep together with him?"

"W-Well." The maid lowered her gaze, fidgeting in place. "I-If it is necessary, I mean, I have a duty to uphold- w-why are you laughing! You have no right to question my motives!"

It dawned on me that Mother was releasing years of frustrated teasing on Belinda. This must be the first time the maid is treating her like an equal. It's a heartwarming thing to see, and a bit sad too, as it took her being another person to get her friend to stop deifying her.

"Ah!" Mother suddenly stopped giggling, "A summon!"

It took a second for the words to sink in.

"What!" Belinda exclaimed, "But that's impossible, the familiar just left! It should take at least- and how would you know!?"

For my part, I focused on my magical sense immediately. Managing to feel _something_ latching on to Mother, and the Abyss promptly cutting the connection.

Okay, that solved the 'summoning Mother' problem. I suspect we'd have to train the Abyss to-

 _It latched on me._

"Shit!" Belinda shouted as Mother was thrown outside the circle forming under my feet, "That's a-"

An old summon, my Archmage Essence told me as it showed me its secrets. I quickly followed its instruction and jammed my magic in the way of its metaphysical call; just enough to slow it down but not enough to cut it.

With the additional time, my eyes showed me a clearer picture of the circle. It was complex, just as complex as the seals marking Silvana's body; I could see that more than a dozen magical styles were used in its design, some of them I learned _from the circle_. It was ancient too, that was evident from the use of the Ars Goetia's Dantalion mark, instead of the modern one. Its age granted it power, an old magic that has been used many times and accumulated many esoteric connotations. It was the oldest magic circle I'd ever seen and by far the most powerful.

Next came the usage. I learned the many ways it could be used, how it needed an appropriate sacrifice for it to work. How it would trap the Devil inside to protect the summoner. How it would connect the souls of the parties to let the energy pass, and if need be, to allow the soul to be reaped. How it would compel both into an unbreakable contract, with crippling consequences to anyone that dared violate it. I saw it all, and I saw that it has been _improperly casted._

The summoner had messed up, he didn't use the right sacrifice, he made a mistake on the drawing of the circle, there were some parts in the wrong places, some parts that weren't appropriately drawn, and it seems that he ran out of whatever he was painting it with at the end. The mistakes were hidden under the brilliant light, but I could see that it was a harshly made job.

It compromised the amount of energy a bit, but it had almost nothing to protect the summoner. I suspect this would be a gold mine back in the day.

There was a grinding sound as Belinda's hands jabbed the barrier on the edge the circle. "SHIT! It really is an old summon!" She could probably overcome the barrier if she knew the state of it, but I doubt she would notice with a glance. "Elias! Listen to me, you have to-"

I felt a pang of guilt as I ignored her, but there were more important matters.

 _"_ _Are you hurt?_ _"_ I sent the mental message to the gorgeous woman on the floor, making sure to accelerate my thoughts a little, a trick that we invented over the years.

 _"_ _No, it was nothing._ _"_ Mother thought back at the same speed, _"_ _Ely, are you going to…_ _"_

Her dread was easy to feel.

However…

 _"_ _I want to go_ _, "_ I admitted

This is just too interesting to ignore, a summoning by the old kind of ritual _right after I learned about them_ , this kind of thing doesn't happen, it's almost the stuff of destiny right there. Sure, it could be a trap, but I'm more than confident in my ability to deal with it if that was the case, besides the circle can't hold me for long, especially not in this state.

Also, Mother needs to grow accustomed to this; it'd be worse for us in the long run if she doesn't learn to let me go. Hell, she _knows_ this.

We have been making great steps. I believe that she is ready for this.

Her answer came eventually, it was full of conflicted feelings.

 _"_ _Alright, don't let me hold you back Ely, go and have fun._ _"_ I could feel her mind fighting against the despair these words raised.

That would have broken me. That would have made me abandon my curiosity. That would have made me stay.

If I hadn't felt her determination.

 _"_ _I will. Thank you_ _. "_ I tried to convey as much of the pride I was feeling on this last message.

I looked at Belinda again; my accelerated perception was making the world move in slow motion, I could see every detail of her panicked face.

Fuck, here comes the guilt again. I promise that I'll give her plenty of Bella time to make up for this scare.

 _" I_ _t won't be long, I promise._ _"_ With that, I lowered the speed of my thoughts together with my magic.

 _"_ _Please, be safe._ _"_

-0-0-0-

The first thing I did when I arrived was sending a mental message to Mother, informing her that I was fine and that it wasn't a trap.

Then, I took in the surroundings.

I was in a basement, pretty sure of that. In a basement with five teenagers- no, four teenagers and a child- around me, and an awful lot of noise coming from upstairs, not 'parent fighting' noises like one would assume with a 'children hiding in the basement' scenario, but brutal martial fighting noises accompanied by general destruction.

Okay, everything was good so far…

"What. The. Fuck." Begin a blonde boy speaking in American English. His voice came slowly, and his lips started to curl in an unbalanced smile. "All of that, we had to do all of that! And we got a _fucking child!"_ He half snarled half laughed.

 _"Shut up!"_ Hissed the girl beside him. She was pale, had blue eyes, cobalt hair, and Asian features. She also looked absolutely terrified. "The book said it would summon a Demon. _A Demon_ you understand!? It could look like anything!" She spoke to the boy with the corner of her mouth, her eyes never leaving me.

'The book' she mentioned was probably the ancient tome on her arms.

"A Demon! Oh right, thank for reminding me! Now, who's idea it was to summon a _FUCKING DEMON_ again?" He laughed harder, "And what the hell was I thinking when I agree to this! 'Let's summon a Demon!'" Announced fuckface, going utterly insane. "'Sure,' said innocent past Dave raising his hand, 'Sound like a jolly good idea! Why didn't we think of that in the first place, it's the answer to our every-'"

 _"Stop. Babbling!"_ The girl looked to be on the brink of a nervous breakdown.

"I'M SORRY ALRIGHT! I BABBLE WHEN I'M NERVOUS! WHICH FUCKING HAPPENS WHEN THERE ARE MONSTERS FIGHTING IN MY HOUSE AND A DEMON IN MY BASEMENT!"

 _"SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY!"_

Their antics were mildly entertaining, but I turned to look at the rest of the group.

There was an African American boy that looks to be the oldest of them. He was wearing one of those American sports jackets that sometimes appear in human television. The jacket, and his clothes, in general, were drenched with blood, probably from the house cat that lay gutted in front of him. He was also quite obviously in shock and was trembling all over.

A cat, huh... No wonder the call was so easy to hold back, they were supposed to use a human.

The last one was a blonde teenage girl with skimpy clothes. She was concentrating most of her effort in consoling the shocked boy. But she occasionally sent worried glances at me.

The child was curled into a ball a few feet behind them. She was crying and holding her hands over her ears in an attempt to muffle the sounds of the fight.

So, these are humans huh?

They look…well, disappointing isn't the word I wanted to use, even if I was kind of let down, but _different_ , not the good kind of different, or the bad kind of different either. They just looked…different.

Different from what I thought, different from what I expected, _different from what I remember._

They weren't _ugly_ , both of the girls had attractive curves in their body that I gained my appreciation, but the more I see of their too expressive faces, not so subtle bodily reactions, too intense odors and the little imperfections that littered their form. All I could think was: _sloppy craftsmanship._

If I ever needed proof that the memories of my old life were in human perspective. That would be it.

"PLEASE!" A young voice broke through my inner thoughts. Both the teens and I turned to look at the child.

She was related to the Asian girl, that's for sure. She had the same cobalt blue hair and exotic features; the only difference was the wine-red eyes that were blurred with tears.

She sniffed and tried to put a brave face, but the cascade of tears falling from her eyes lessened the effect.

"HE IS GOING TO KILL PIPER!" Her face scrunched as she tried to hold back a sob, "PLEASE HELP HER!"

Hoh, I'm starting to pull the pieces together. I suppose 'Piper' is fighting 'he' upstairs, and whatever or whoever 'he' was, he is an opponent that this group is certain that 'Piper' can't beat. So certain that they choose to summon a Devil to even the field.

I'm liking this contract more and more.

But it is an old contract, can't forget that detail.

I tilted my head, the first movement I made since I was summoned. The reminder that I was real caused gasps among the teenagers.

"…And what would you give me in exchange?" I asked slowly.

The girl swiped her arm over her face in an attempt to clear the tears, then looked up with a determined look. _"Anything!"_

Her answer made the Asian teen let out a fearful squeak.

But it was too late, the conditions have been laid, and the hold keeping me in the circle disappeared.

Now to work-No, not to work, what did mother said again?

Oh, Hammy.

I crossed the distance between my contractor and me, cradling her face in my hands. My movement must have looked like teleportation to the human eyes, as the teens made louder reactions of fear.

I gently cleared her tears with my thumbs, sending a soft smile while doing it. That made the girl blink and a blush begin to form.

"H-Hey! G-get your hands of my sister- _Oh FUCK!"_

Man, I wish that I could see the Asian teen's face when the kiss happened.

I keep it chaste of course, the girl looked to be about my age, and children of my age shouldn't be doing the things I do. It made the girl melt all of the same.

We separated soon after; I keep my gaze on her wide red eyes.

"Deal," I whisper, placing a bind on her.

This time, instead of an invisible dot in someone's body or a tasteful collar on the ones I cherished, I made the mark take the form of the modern Dantalion mark; a stylish silhouette of a bovine skull with an additional pair of horns. And I made it permanently visible to anyone that looked at it. I placed it slightly above her hips as a small mercy, so she could hide it under her clothes if she chose to.

It could convey the idea of 'marked by the devil' well enough.

I let the girl reboot her brain in peace, and turned to the teenagers.

Their expressions made it all worth it. Mother was sooo right about messing with humans.

"The correct term is 'Devil'. Demon is just another name for the fauna and flora of Hell, but the most common term for them is Hellbeast." I nod at their petrified faces and left the basement.

-0-0-0-

The basement gave away to an average suburban house, and it was trashed.

Walls filled with holes, furniture smashed, portraits and others personal things ruined beyond saving, refrigerator in embedded on a wall with months' worth of food spread all over.

I'm surprised this house is still standing.

As if the world was mocking my thoughts the second floor partially gave away and splattered the first one with a ton of wood and more broken furniture, burying me under the detritus.

Alright, lesson learned, no more tempting fate.

I exploded out of the wreckage and into the night sky, watching the opponents fight in the remains of the collapsed house.

They are werewolves.

Let's see, a ten feet tall mountain of muscle and black fur, wearing a jacket and pants made for its size, with a distinctly wolfen face somehow twisted into a cocky grin.

The other was smaller, much smaller, it could be confused with a big dog from a distance, but it was clearly humanoid up close. This one has red-brown fur, but it could be because of the blood, it had ugly injuries open all over its form. This one was naked, and showed no sign of human intelligence, acting and moving more like a feral animal, as opposed to the other, who was chuckling darkly.

Okay, I dub the small werewolf 'Piper' and the black werewolf 'He'.

Piper was attacking relentlessly with her fangs and claws. The black werewolf was easily dodging all her attacks, and occasionally opening another gash with his considerably longer and sharper claws. I'm surprised that the girl is still trying to fight, he was toying with her, and it was obvious that she had no chance, her instinct should have told her that, yet she's still here, persisting against an overwhelming foe.

Deciding to even the field a little, I bury my fist on the werewolf's ribs when he raised his arm to attack again, my punch sent him flying and ruined the front garden of the house across the street.

My other hand grabbed Piper's muzzle as she directed her attacks on me. If I remember correctly, werewolf children can't control their wolf form, losing their mind to the inner beast when they transform, or during the full moon, when the beast is at their strongest. After some brief consideration, I discarded the idea of knocking her out, and just put a thick, collar-shaped bind on her neck.

"Stop," I commanded firmly. The werewolf girl immediately ceased her thrashing and growling. Her eyes blinked confusedly at me. "Good girl," I said, moving my hand to scratch her non-injured ear.

Dirt, stone, and asphalt crumbled out of the black werewolf's form as he slowly raised to his feet, the sight would undoubtedly strike terror in the eyes of the unprepared, but for me, it just seems like he was showing off.

"Devil spawn." He growled out with a deep, grave voice. His eyes locked onto me with barely controlled rage. "Go back to the hell you came from, this is Sawfang pack's business."

My early punch doesn't seem to have left any damage, or if it had, it already healed; I wasn't trying too hard but it's still impressive. Fit in what I read about werewolves; big, strong, and outstanding regeneration.

"That name means nothing to me." He growled deeply at my words. Oh dear, I stepped in a sore spot! "But I got a contract you see; I got to help Piper here thrash your furry ass, nothing personal." I shrug.

My casual demeanor was pissing him off. His throat begins to let out a continuous growl, and his lips pulled up to bare the row of sharp fangs. His action started to rile up Piper, but she obediently stayed in place

 _"So be it."_ he snarled between the fangs, leaning his body to the ground and carving his claw in the dirt and stone of the ground beneath. "A traitor spawn, a devil spawn, makes no difference, in the end, they are all _prey!"_

He- What?

Is that a fireball!?

Did he just spit a fireball at me!?

A _fire breathing werewolf._ Who would have thought?

I shook myself from the thematic inconsistency enough to block the fireball with a magical shield, and when the fire washed up, he already crossed most of the distance between us.

I made a bed of shadow spikes rise from under his position, but he managed to jump away before it could kill him. He landed at some distance and immediately charged again, breathing a jet of fire in, what I realize now, an attempt to distract me long enough to get close.

My next shadow spike sends him farther still, and... Ah whatever, everything he does is disappointing.

He is just… not enough.

He is fast and strong, yes, but my Belinda is faster and stronger. The way he moves is cool I guess, I never seen a fighter so efficiently utilize all his limbs to move, but it wasn't all that impressive once I had a minute to adapt to it. He could use magic, but only the bare basics of it, and isn't even creative with it! He only uses it as a distraction to close the distance.

I'm well aware that I'm overpowered, and I already promised to myself that I would meet my opponents on their level to avoid making things boring, but there is a limit of how much I could hold back.

At least he is having fun- well, not fun, but it must be an intense fight for him. The things I was throwing at him were getting closer to his body; soon he will get hurt. He was focusing more and more on dodging than on attacking, and the fact that he hadn't managed to make me move must be frustrating him.

Piper was reacting to the fight, growling and snaring each time he got too close; she was also threatening to jump into the action, I had to grip the nape of her neck to keep her in place.

Alright, let end this.

I let him succeed in his latest strategy. I watched him jumping through the gap of my shadow blades with surprising grace, then let him roll toward me. His claws were followed by his triumphant roar as they shot in the direction of my face.

In a blink of an eye, his limbs were engulfed in shadows, stopping him in mid-air.

"You-You-" He panted miserably, his eyes widened in disbelief. "How can you-"

"Shut it." I said, forming a shadow muzzle over his mouth. "You ruined my perception of werewolves in that shameful display. Goddamn it! You guys used to be my favorite monster, you know? I hope that Piper here doesn't grow to be as disappointing as you, in fact, I'll make sure that she doesn't." I huffed, turning to the wolf girl dutifully waiting beside me.

"Piper!" She stood for attention. I pointed at the bounded werewolf. "Kill!"

She jumped to his throat not a second later.

And with that my contract is-

 _ ***POWER***_

Raw, unrestricted power filled my veins; it thrummed warmly over my skin, shocked into the depths of my spine, and brought fire into my core. The sensation made me fall to my knees.

It was accompanied by a wave of pure ecstasy. All at once, I felt a combination of everything I enjoy in life; every taste, every smell, every touch. It was like the whole universe became my Mother, and she was breastfeeding me.

Then, it was over, leaving me sweating and horny in front of a destroyed house. The result wasn't even that impressive. There _had_ been an increase in my power, I could feel it; the energy had entered my body and integrated itself to my core, it was more evident in my demonic energy, but I could feel a physical increase as my seal worked to bring the constant pressure up to my new strength. But the increase wasn't that drastic, and it wasn't something I couldn't achieve by myself.

But the initial rush though. _Damn!_

I could totally see this being addictive.

A wet snout pressed against my side and a worried whine followed. I turned my gaze to Piper.

She looked bad; injuries covered her entire body, some had flayed skin hanging loosely from the edges, I could see muscle and bone peeking out in some places, her arm was hanging limp to the side, and her leg had a limp to it. It was only adrenaline and her race's natural toughness that was keeping her conscious.

Yet, she was more worried about her companion than her own state.

Is this the canine loyalty I heard about? Or it's because of the new bond? Maybe it's both.

"I'm fine girl." I place my hand on her neck, anticipating the swaying that would happen when the adrenaline ran out. "It's you I'm worried about." She responded by licking my face.

"Right, let's take care of that." I brought her closer, noticing that her limbs gave up when I did so.

I sat back and lay her body on my lap. On the back of my hand, a magical circle lit up, and I began healing.

Healing magic is the only thing I prepare circles for. Mostly because they are fucking hard to do, and the nature of my energy was completely against the concept of healing. Demonic Energy is toxic to anything that is not the devil that generates it, even to other Devils to an extent; it was made to _do_ damage, not to _heal_ damage. To be used to heal someone, the devil is required have a powerful and well-trained imagination to overcome the natural inclination of the energy. Because of that, very few devils could use healing spells, and most had to rely on other means to cast it. I could use it, but it usually takes a few seconds to wrap my head around the concept, so it was faster to prepare a magic circle with pre-casted spells for emergencies.

The healing continued until I raised her magical power enough to reactivate her regeneration. Then, it became so easy that I could stop there, and she would be completely fine by the end of the hour. With me still helping, it took seconds to treat her thoroughly.

"Woof!" She barked vigorously, her tongue attacking my face once again.

"Alright-alright, I get that you're happy- hey-Stop!" I manage to escape and stand up. Piper stayed sitting with her tongue lolling out and her tail flapping. She was looking at me with an expression of innocent happiness that only a puppy could make.

It was slightly weird because it was coming from a humanoid wolf girl, but it was still cute.

"Alright, now let's dig up the entrance of the basement and meet with your friends. We've been very lucky that the police didn't show up, but with the number of fearful eyes watching the fight behind curtains, I'd say they're not far behind." I would be more worried about exposure, but that is a problem for the local supernatural government. Plus, memory spells are a thing. "Besides, I have to talk with that girl about the price of my services. I'm not cheap you know!"

"Woof-Woof!" Came more enthusiastic barking as she followed behind me.

-0-0-0-

I appear in the same place I left.

She was there.

Sitting at the table, taking deliberate slow breaths, with her knuckles white and body tense. She opened her eyes as soon as she felt my presence and visibly sagged in relief.

"Oh, Ely." Mother breathed out. "I…I did it. You were g-gone, to an unknown place. And I didn't panic. I-I felt like I was going to, but I didn't, and, and there is nothing broken see! Abby also behaved herself, she's been a really good girl-"

I silenced her with a kiss.

"Yes," I said when I pull back. "You did it. I knew you would." I smile raising my hand to wipe a few tears that had escaped. "I love you."

She threw her arm around me in a firm embrace that still held traces of despair. She tried to say that she loves me too, but she dove to a kiss at the same time, so it came out as a messy collection of sound between tongue action.

I'm not complaining though. It was hot.

"BELLA!" Belinda burst through the dining room door, wearing her combat gear over her maid uniform. Including a special sheath that could hold the set of Devil Swords I made for her, three on each side. "I'm going to track Elias. I need you to take care of the-ELIAS."

I pulled back, making Mother let out a needy whine and turned to the maid.

"Hey, I'm back, everything is under control."

She lets out a relieved breath, and her eyes begin to tear up… then, she proceeded to give me the verbal smackdown that my mother never could.

All in all, it was a fun first summon.

-0-0-0-

 **[XXXXX's Pov]**

"Please my lord. I'm close to a breakthrough! I just need a little more time!"

I bend over my waist in a deep bow, keeping my eyes at my facility floor, not daring to gaze upon my lord's magnificence, even in holographic form.

"…For a hundred years I heard this." The voice of the rightful Satan reached my ears. "A hundred years that you were close to 'your breakthrough', a hundred more years with the usurper sitting in our thrones, a hundred more years for them to spoil and weaken our once proud race, a hundred more years of submission masqueraded as peace, a hundred more years of the devilkind _being the laughing stock of the three factions!_... No, doctor Tomoe, you will not have more time."

My whole body trembled with dread. He couldn't possibly mean…

"We are shutting down the research efforts." He announced and my whole thoughts turned to white. "You are to destroy any samples and subjects left there, keeping only a single backup for any possible future analysis. Then, you will protect the piece until the Black Guard comes to take it. After that, you will be sent to aid in Macharate Gedōin's research. He has been much more successful than you, I might add, even managing to gain the Naberius' patronage, and that's quite the achievement given the way they see their Branch families. Perhaps you will learn something under his tutelage."

I couldn't hold it back anymore. "MY LORD!" I fell to my hand and knees. "I served the rightful Satans loyally ever since the usurpers' traitorous ascension! I obtained success in any project that was sent in my way, for it is due to my actions that the strength of our armies rose tenfold! This research, this research is merely a means to prove my loyalty once again and with it I would raise our strength a _thousand fold!_ I _will_ achieve success on this, just like I did in every over mission before it. I just need-" In my passion, I made a mistake to raise my head. Shalba Beelzebub's lips quirked unpleasantly for my insolence, and I snapped my head back down again. The action took the strength out of my voice. "I just need more time."

I shouldn't have raised my head! You know what the lord does to servants who don't know how to bow properly! You know the price they pay! FOOL! Why did I raise my head!?

Even as a hologram, I could feel my lord malicious aura oozing through the magic, his eyes judging me with a harsh glare, weighing the worth of my existence. No doubt I would be crushed under his energy had I been in his presence.

"Very well, you will have your time."

Relief crashed down on me like a charging hellbeast.

"Thank you, my lord! I will not disa-"

"However." Lord Beelzebub's harsh tone cut through my words. "As punishment for your sin, I'll remove my proposal to act as Macharate Gedōin's aid. So, you will succeed in your research, or you will _die_ trying. Do I make myself clear, Doctor?"

"Y-yes, my lord!" I agreed. This is going to be my masterpiece, and when I finished the project, I alone will be responsible for the True Satan faction's uprising, and the empowering of the Devil race as a whole. To mass-produce something that even Ajuka Astaroth failed to do, it is a matter worth staking my life for.

"Then…" I could feel my lord's nasty smile. "You have a week, Doctor."

I have-What

WHAT!

A week!?

 _A single week!_

"B-but-"

"Yes, doctor Tomoe," I hear my lord chuckle. _"Do you have anything to add?"_

I served Lord Beelzebub for many centuries, so I knew that wasn't the kind of tone one could follow up lightly.

"No, my Lord, thank you for your kindness, my lord."

"I'll be waiting for results doctor Tomoe, do not disappoint me."

And with that, the connection was cut, and the hologram Disappear.

My arms met the metal table a moment later.

"ARGHHHH!" I screamed my frustration out and took my rage on the room, breaking every furniture and equipment I could get into my hands.

Curses! CURSES! I used to think that utter failure was the worst kind of result a scientist could have, but I was wrong! I was dead wrong; the worst kind of result is _the success that you couldn't announce._

"U-Um Doctor?" one of my pawns entered the room. "Are you alrigh-"

"Did you find it!?" I snapped on the lowly piece.

"I- We are doing our best sir, but his trail was found by the church and traitor and- _Hya!"_ The piece fell to the floor, clutching her cheek.

 _"I ordered it to be found!_ It has been _months!_ Why is it not found!" My leg met the piece's ribcage in a constant rhythm; her painful cries helped me focus a little.

"Doctor- _Guh!"_ She spat blood but did not move to shield herself. Huh, this one must have been mine for a while if she knew what happens to those who try to protect themselves. "He keeps avoiding us or killing us. We are formulating a plan using the last failed attempts as – _GARG!"_ There was a cracking sound.

I dug my boot in the place, making her let out unintelligent cries and grasping my leg.

"Then redouble your efforts! Make sure you know its position! And when you do, do not engage, keep eyes on it and inform me! Do you understand?!" I shouted adding more pressure.

"YES!" She thrashed and screamed for long moments, but she managed to scream a response.

"Good." I take the boot off, _"Then, get to work!"_

The pawn was quick to limp out, leaving me alone in the destroyed room.

Useless pieces. All of them!

I snarl and begin to make my way across to familiar corridors of the underground facility.

I couldn't present my success to Lord Beelzebub without said success in hands. That would be madness! He would have struck me down where I stood, if not for disbelieving me, then for my inability to keep the subject from escaping.

 _Inability_ \- HAH, hardly, he only escaped because I was faced with the only thing I couldn't plan against; _my own genius._ If I hadn't underestimated the perfection I could achieve I would have been more prepared to handle such a drastic increase in its power on that damn day. And the beast destroyed the facility too, erasing the papers that led to its creation.

Now the beast is on the loose, prowling through the streets of this disgusting town using the power given by _MY_ masterpiece to rape and kill on its leisure.

Well, not for long.

I reached the locked room. Releasing the locks with my energy, I quickly step inside and walked to the black cube in the center.

With delicate movement I placed my hand over the object, letting the item analyze my magical signature. Knowing that if I wasn't registered, I would be vaporized in place.

But I was registered, so instead of instant vaporization, the cube opened in an elegant and elaborate display of almost fluid movements.

Then, I saw it.

It sat atop of the black altar; its red-colored form brimming with enormous energy and endless potential. It was small, but its presence seems to light up the entire room, a far cry from its inferior sisters.

Ajuka Astaroth's unquestionable masterpiece, something that no one in the world managed to reproduce, _until me._

The King Piece.

I took the beautiful item in my hand. Who could imagine that something so small will change the fate of the entire world- No, I am getting ahead of myself, the king piece will soon change the fate of the world. but it would be _MY_ king pieces, _many_ of them.

But first I had to secure the first of their kind and use it to make more.

And that, as my useless servant already indicated, will require a hands-on approach.

My smile turned vicious when the piece found its place in my chest. My laughter exploded when I felt my power _rising._

A week? **I'd need but only a day.**


	14. Chapter 11

This chapter was beta'd by eveakane and gaouw in QQ Forum.

Chapter 11

* * *

The six-years-old Hyoudou Issei slept peacefully on his bed.

He was a tremendous disappointment.

I mean, there isn't anything wrong with him, per se. He is just… average. A normal human kid in every aspect.

This was my own fault. I hyped myself with the idea of seeing the main character, but I expected at least _something_ from him. Some indication that he was this generation's Sekiryuutei, but he had nothing. His athletic abilities are normal, his magical potential is so tiny that it's hard to know if he has any, his grades are average at best, and he sure as hell doesn't let out any supernatural feeling.

How the hell had the Fallen found out about his sacred gear in the anime again? I can't remember anything substantial. In the fanfics, and in some episodes after he was already a devil, it was said he had "the smell of a Dragon", whatever that meant. Well, I can't smell anything strange, or at least I don't have the context to recognize it – and now that I think about it; how the hell would people know what a dragon smell like? Was it from Tannin? I bet it was from Tannin; the image of a bunch of Devils sniffing Tannin's armpit is funny to me.

The sleeping boy mumbled something and turned to the side; I watched him move with an intensity worthy of a creepy stalker.

I'm not a specialist in Sacred Gears. Hell, I never even see one outside the pages of a book. I wouldn't know where to begin searching for the Boosted Gear, or even how the dragon inside would react. Just me being here is a small risk because I don't know if the Dragon was awake or not, he could very well be creepily watching me while I creepily watch the sleeping boy. I don't know how his senses work, after all, I only know he can generally sense what is happening outside Issei. But then again, it's a _small_ risk, for even if he could see me; he wouldn't be able to tell anyone about my presence until at least ten years, and by then I should be ready to take him. If I can't, I would be very disappointed with myself.

Unless something messes with the canon and throws everything out of rail of course - But that's hopeless to consider by this point because the 'canon' thing is just an illusion, it was condemned in the moment that Elias Dantalion was born with memories and powers that didn't belong to this world. If I wanted canon intact, I would've done my best to isolate myself and not interact with the main devils' characters. But that's not an option anymore.

Still, I would like to keep things as close to 'canon' as possible, mostly because having some idea of what's going to happen is useful for long-term planning.

But that leaves a question of what to do with Issei? While I want to let him have an unbothered life, I simply can't. That would be _stupid_ ; Hyoudou Issei has one of the Longinus, and these are a _big deal_ on the DxD universe. Like it or not, these humans always get involved with the supernatural one way or another, and they either become powerful, or die before while trying to become, because everybody and their mother want a piece of them.

Should I bind him?- Yes, Yes, of course, the answer to the question 'should I bind someone' will always be yes, even if I don't do anything to them afterward, it is still better than let them run free. But even if I bind him, what good would that make?

My Binder's Essence is stronger now, courtesy of my Blank Essence I reckon, it takes much longer for the binding to start to loosen, and my orders are much more precise and effective than before, I suspect that in the future I would only need to mark someone once, and they would be mine forever.

But I'm not in that point yet, the bind I placed on Issei will erase itself in a few months, and I can't get away with regular visits to the human world to replace it, maybe if I were a little older I could, but if I did it now, there would be questions.

My sigh echoed across the toy-filled room. Issei giggled in his sleep and turned to the other side with a smile on his face

Maybe I shouldn't be thinking about that right now, all of those are non-issues that would be easier to deal with if I sat down and waited a little before putting things into practice. The underworld will take issue with a very young pillar heir leaving the safety of his home to play in the very chaotic human world, but it won't take issue with a young, but not so much, heir with proven strength who wanted to test himself in an exotic place.

Well, my Mother did say I worry too much about things that I shouldn't, and there are many _other_ things that are genuinely problematic, like scouting from spies in the Dantalions lands, and the whole Purson situation that still-

There was a quiet sound outside, not something actually threatening or even unusual, just one of the other members of this household leaving their room and carefully descending downstairs. By the direction the steps were heading I'd say they are going to have a glass of water or a midnight snack.

I guess there this is my turn to leave-

Wait a second!

I can't excuse frequent trips to the human world, because people would talk, and trying to go stealthily would require too much effort and too many risks. But if I could find another way to go to the human world without having to use the dimensional train, a way to which I could stay there for how long I needed and come back wherever I wanted.

A summon wouldn't do, of course, it wasn't strong enough to pierce through dimensions. The best it could do was having a worldwide range, and even then the paper would be spoiled in a few hours with the amount of magic it would have to hold.

But an _Old Summon_ ; the kind that happened to me yesterday, the kind that I had time to analyze thoroughly and had all the steps necessary to make it burned into my brain…

Oh; it would have the usual risks of course, but did they even matter _when the summoner is completely bound to the will of the summon in the first place?_

All right, calm down Elias, your smile is starting to hurt.

Now, who is it going to be? It can't be little Issei of course; I don't want to have direct contact with him if I can help it. I suppose it could be a random human, but… Well, that doesn't have much impact, even if it is the most pragmatic way to go around it. Maybe that's my Devil speaking…

A soft, excited moan sang from downstairs, it would be impossible to hear it with a human ear, but to a Devil like me; it was a beautiful symphony that drew my undivided attention.

There it goes, the smile again, I swear my immunity to pain lets me reach some limits that shouldn't be reached.

In a second, I was melting away in the shadow of Issei's room, and my consciousness was springing on the ones of his kitchen.

The biggest source of light was coming from the open fridge; ahead of it, was a thirty-something woman wearing a thin nightwear. She had a cup of something in one hand, and the other was bringing a spoon to her mouth. She let out a joyful dance when the substance hit her taste buds.

"Mmmnn~" She swallows it with a happy moan. "Sooo good~! I'm sorry Otou-san, I know we said we'd fight for it in the morning, but I couldn't resist! Pudding~!" She sang in a high-pitched, childish voice.

Hm, Issei's mother is not a bad looking woman. She was older than the rest of the moms with a child in his age group I had seen in town, and didn't have the fantastic proportions that the Devil women typically have, but that isn't to say she didn't have respectable curves, especially for a human woman of her age, and one with a child, no less… her nightwear wasn't normally see-through, but the light from the fridge was making a particularly enticing silhouette.

She took another bite and danced once again. I can say for sure that the pudding was hogging all her attention.

Made it easier for me then…

Entirely unbeknownst to the woman, the shadows on the wall began to move, creeping so slowly to the door and windows, cutting the room away from any sound or sight. Perhaps she would have noticed if she wasn't so close to the fridge, as its intense light obfuscated the darkness closing in.

Finally, when the fridge was gone from the biggest source of light on the room to be the _only_ source of light, the woman noticed that something was wrong, she blinked confusedly and turned, spoon still clinging from her month.

It was hard to describe the expression her face made. Humans didn't have the best night vision; I knew that, so I wondered what she saw when she came face to face with pitch black moving shadows, the light coming from behind her barely illuminating the surface of the thick jungle of tendrils I made from it.

She, predictably, opened her mouth, but my shadows descend upon her before the scream could come.

My shadows quickly overpowered the frail woman; it was an almost trivial task. They coiled themselves tightly around her body, not to the point it brought pain of course; I didn't want to hurt her, I just want her to feel the pressure.

I let her tremble in my unmovable darkness for a long minute before slowly moving her. Her body was leaned back slightly, her limbs spread to the side. The shadows maneuvered her around to a sitting position. Then, the ones on her torso retreated, letting that part free while still gripping the limbs. The ones on her face also retracted, leaving only a shadow gag behind to muffle the sounds.

She was obviously terrified; her chest rose and fell in frenetic breaths, the wide, brown eyes dashed all around the room looking for something to focus, blinking away the tears that threatened to blur her vision, each second that passed more and more frightened little sounds came from the gag.

I savored this image for a little longer; now, at closer inspection, it was easier to see the natural imperfections the humans seem to have, and some marks on her face that give her age, some extra mass on her abdomen that told of early pregnancies, but weirdly enough, all it did is making her look more attractive. _Sexy_ even... Sitting there, tied by my shadows, utterly helpless under my power, with more and more of her body being revealed by the increasingly sweaty nightwear.

Inside the shadows, I blinked. Why was this mere Human so attractive to me? Is it because she is connected to the main character? Is it because she is Issei's mom? Is it because she is a hot mom?

A hot. Tied up. Very Sexy mom...

Oh god, Mother corrupted me!

…Eh, it was bound to happen.

I appeared suddenly, shooting myself from the shadows with surprising speed, the effect made me appear in a literal blink of an eye. She let out a frightened gasp when that happened.

I tilted my head, tracing her form with my physical eyes this time. She keeps staring directly at me with confusing, pleading eyes. There wasn't much else she could do.

Should I go further? She was entirely on my metaphorical hand and wouldn't come out until I let her. It would take no effort whatsoever to have my shadow my shadow change into _one particular shape_ , to give her an experience that my Mother adores.

…No.

Her fearful reactions are affecting me more than I'd have imagined, but a part of me, something very human, was keeping me from escalating.

It's fine; I'm not against that human part…

It's more fun when they are utterly crazy about me anyway.

My hand rose slowly. She whined noisily and tried to wiggle away at the approach, but my shadow held tight. Softly, my finger brushed her soft cleavage; swiping away the remains of the Pudding and leaving behind a Dantalion's mark on her lower back, tramp stamp styled style.

"It's okay," I said, bringing my finger to my mouth. Tasty. "You may **calm down** now, aunty."

I can't imagine her confusion when she noticed that she was indeed calmer now. She blinked some tears away, looking undeniably more focused.

I smiled. She blushed.

"Now, I have many things to talk to you about, aunty. Why don't you **fall into a trance** , so we can begin."

-0-0-0-

We are attracting a lot of attention, aren't we?

"Here, this one. Try it out! I think it goes perfectly with your eyes."

Yep, definitely, I could feel the eyes of pretty much everyone in the store.

"Look at what I found~ what do you guys think? Is it too much?"

I could actually feel killing intent from some of the women nearby, along with some shocked looks as the vision awoke awaken some hidden desires.

"Not fair Linda! You have to try it out too! Come on, clothes off!"

There are some guys here. I'm sure most of them thought being there was torture before. Now, I believe their spouses will have to pry them away with a crowbar. I even saw one relationship end, because the guy refused to leave the store.

But then again, who could blame them? Is it's not every day you see three supernaturally hot women doing an improvised fashion show in a clothing store.

"Hey hey, Ely~." Mother left _everybody_ paralyzed when she came out of the fitting room, "What do you think?"

Legs, creamy white, juicy and toned, yummy.

"It's a bit…short," I said, trying to not pass out for having all my blood suddenly rising to my face.

"I know right!" She beamed. "Human fashion is so wonderful!"

Belinda coughed loudly from the side; her face showed that she was having the same problem I was. "You should keep from saying things like that in the open, considering where we are."

"Nah, it's fine." Cleria commented; she had bumped into us some time ago and hasn't left, nobody complained. Now, she is not even hiding her leering gaze on my Mother's behind. "I don't think anyone is paying attention to what she is saying right now."

"Alright! I'm taking this!" Mother said with a satisfied smile. "Now, who is next!?"

This may have begun as just three girlfriends trying out new clothes, but these three girlfriends were three devil women who appreciated the female form just as much as they appreciated the male one. It was only natural that everything rapidly devolved into a barely hidden excuse to see each other in skimpy outfits.

My eyes twitched when I saw Cleria come out wearing a red shirt that practically had a boob window for a neckline.

I swear they're going to kill someone if they keep this up.

I shook my head as Belinda was pushed inside the fitting room, and turned to the only other male presence on our small group.

The man sitting beside me was has turned his head in the exact opposite direction from the trio of drop-dead beautiful women playing dressing dress up, a wise move to preserve the small amount of blood he had left.

He was tall and thin, wearing casual clothes that hid the lean but powerful musculature beneath. His features were mostly androgynous, with only a hint of nobility in them; it was the kind of face that would send women into frenzy, especially together with his forest green eyes and long blonde hair, but the effect was somewhat spoiled by the addition of two rolls of bloody tissue inserted in his nostrils.

"I'm sorry to have pulled Cleria from her duties, mister Verde," I said politely to the Devil governor's knight. "I hope this interruption doesn't cause harm to her busy schedule."

"Maa, you are too polite little lord, there is no need to apologize at all." He almost sent a fond look back to his king but decided against it; the danger was too great. "Besides, we were the ones who invaded your shopping trip, if anything we should be the ones apologizing."

"None of us really mind." True, Cleria is nice company and her knight doesn't get in the way, "I'm just worried about her job. I mean; what if something important happens?"

"Then we'd deal with it later. For now, like I said, let her have her fun." He turned to me and gave a genuine smile. "It has been a while since I saw her having so much of it, you know. I thank you for that."

"Well, she is welcome to join us any time!" Which hopefully wouldn't happen that often, having the city governor hanging around us is bound to bring some attention, and that's the last thing I want right now.

Guilherme Verde chuckled in a way that told me he wanted to give me a brotherly head rub, but kept himself in check because that would be pushing his station, instead, he cheerfully tried for a conversation.

"So how are you liking the city so far?"

That was a legitimately good question. I don't appreciate cities like an average person does because I can inspect every inch of the place if I spread shadow around like a mega voyeur. Some aspects of the city deeply worried me, like the actual _blind spots_ where I couldn't see through the shadows, it nearly sent me into a panic when I found it because until now, nothing short of dimensional barrier had stopped my shadow before. I only calmed down when I figured out that they were churches and sanctified places, it made sense that the faith wouldn't let my diabolical shadow inside, and as I didn't want to test my luck and draw the attention of the heavens, so I decided just to to just leave those alone.

The rest of the city though…

Thinking brought a smile to my face. "I love it." I said honestly. It didn't have the grand narratives that unfold in Hiemsfell, but; "There is always something interesting or weird happening all the time, and the people here somehow adapted to it. At every moment someone is being swept into an odd shenanigan while others just looked around unimpressed, an hour later the same people who looked unimpressed could be sweep into another completely different phenomenon. It's amazing!" Seriously, I am with my shadow spread a few miles around us _right now_ ; and there are seventeen crazy shits happening that wouldn't be out of place in a Yakuza game, "And the variety of unusual races living here…" I honestly hadn't thought that I'd find so many races in my first look here. It was an aspect that the anime didn't show. Initially, I had the impression that it was all devils around there, but no; there is a mermaid living in our neighborhood, a vampire hibernating beneath an office building, a group of pixies fighting a gang war downtown, a centaur under an illusion working as Latin teacher at a local high school, some yokais prowling around the park, and many, many more.

"M-Ma, you sure are attentive, aren't you little lord." Oh fuck, I forgot I was talking to him. He looked surprised by my unorthodox response.

"Sorry, I like this kind of thing," I said, a little embarrassed.

"Don't apologize, I think that's awesome." He smiled, his hand moving to his left earring, "In fact, you are interested in unusual races right?" There was a spike on his magic, and the illusion around him flashed for a second, making his ears change.

"Woah!" I barely managed to not curse in surprise; I _knew_ there was something about him! "You're an Elf!"

"Yep! That's what I am." Guilherme the motherfucking Elf laughed. "You could say Cleria's also interested in unusual races; she went to great lengths to acquire me." His eyes gained a weird look, but he shook it away almost instantly.

"But how?" Now I was _really_ interested. The world of DxD is a world where, quite literally, every creature of legend exists or had existed at some point. I gasped out loud when I read about the classical fantasy races, but according to the books; the Orcs are extinct since Roman times, the last Dwarf died in the turn of the century, nobody talks about what happened to the Hobbits, and the Elves are… "I thought you guys isolated yourselves in hidden cities?" because they lost a war against the Feys and almost went extinct, I completed in my mind. It wouldn't be polite to say it.

"And where do you think I came from?" He buffs his chest, clearly proud of his heritage. "Born and raised in El Dorado itself, left when I was fifty to see what the rest of the world has to offer. Met Cleira along the way, and now I'm a Devil." He finished, putting the illusion back in place.

I'll admit, that is genuinely awesome; you don't bump with something like him every day.

"Say, you're with the Devils now right? Is there any way you can tell us where your homecity is?" I tried, mostly as a joke.

"Not without being executed by ancient elven spirits, and I'm being quite literal there." He smiled, "Good try though. You would be amazed how few people actually tried to ask me first."

"Well that that's just rude- "At that moment a crazy shenanigan involved a cat, a rakugo artist and a young boy wearing heavy plate armor ended, and my shadow moved to other things. The thing it found made me pause; it definitely wasn't as funny as the early earlier situation, but it was _much_ more interesting.

"That's a little disturbing," I commented, seeing the image my shadow showed me.

"Hum? What do you mean little lord?"

"Mister Verde do me a favor, and **begin protocol nº 03"** I commanded, and the Elf instantly forgot my presence, the past and present on his perspective shifting to erase my existence from his world. Now, only another command would make him notice me again.

Binder Essence: the definition of bullshit.

"Hey mother, I'm going to check something out real quick." The mental message was most mostly to avoid the fallout of her coming out of the fitting room and seeing me gone; I don't believe she is ready for this kind of shock. "I'll be right back."

"Okay sweetie, have fun!" The lack of anxiety on her mind made me smile. Having friends is good for her.

I didn't need to move out of sight before diving in the shadows, all the shitty early two thousand cameras were already dealt with, and the majority of the attention was focused on the fashion show. I just needed to tilt sideways and fall into the nearest shadow.

Inside, my awareness fully encompassed all my surroundings, and I could've spread myself throughout the entire city if I wanted to. When I was outside, I could only focus my attention on three simultaneous perspectives, five if I pushed, but here; I could see all that my shadow showed me at the same time.

The alley that I was interested in was quite far from the mall. It was isolated from the main streets, the kind of place that few people pass through without notorious purposes; it would, no doubt, be quite popular at night.

If it wasn't for the body.

Now, the body itself has been the thing that first drew my attention, I'm not a specialist on crime scenes or nor do I have a dark fetish about corpses, but the sheer gruesomeness and perverseness of the death were enough to awaken my morbid curiosity. But now that I was in the shadows, and could feel things a lot better, I noticed something else about the scene that only increased my interest.

 _Demonic energy -_ dense, heavy traces of it - it permeated the air inside the alley. It was clearly left there intentionally, for while new or inexperienced devils do leave traces of their energy behind, the strong and experienced ones are good enough to not to. The sheer power left behind told me that the devil was definitively not weak; he or she _wanted_ to leave traces of their energy.

The presence of a supernatural being explained the state of the body. I do believe a normal human… a group of normal humans could produce something like this, but certainly not without considerable effort.

The victim was a young man of collage age; his body was filled with ugly bruises and bloody wounds that could be seen through the torn up clothes, but they weren't the cause of death, no…

The grotesque, open state of his expose exposed colon, and the enormous amount of dried semen told me what the cause of death was. I didn't need to see an autopsy to know his insides are crushed to a pulp.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the semen drenching the body and the surrounding areas, I'd said say someone successfully impaled him to about half of the way and took the stake with them, but as things are; it was clear that something raped him to death with something that gave similar results to that of an impalement, or he was actually impaled, and a great number of people masturbated over his body.

Neither Either way; it was a gruesome death. It genuinely grossed me out and gave me a bit of inspiration for the future.

But I didn't come here to just look at dead body; I came here back of for the interesting stuff that was most likely about to happen, and the opportunity that it could give me.

Like the very shaken nun that stood guarding at the entrance of the alley, along with the group of church members rushing to her direction.

How could I not watch these events unfold?

"Sister!" The leather leader of the group called. Approaching the lone nun "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yes, father. I-I wasn't attacked or anything. I just found the body, t-the body-Oh God!"

She almost broke down right there, pushing her hand against her face to hold back the tears.

"Shhh, it's alright, you did fine sister." He pulled the crying woman into a hug, turning to one of his companions. "Take her back to the base. She has done enough."

The nun was quickly directed out by a consoling exorcist- or at least I think they were exorcists- and the rest moved to action; they close closed off the alley, secured all the routes in and out, two of them began to bless and purify the place, while the rest examined the body.

I watched their work with interest, the blessing put some pressure to expel me, but they were easy to shrug off, nothing compared to an actual church.

"So?" The leader asked, his trained eyes examining the body with professional efficiency.

"There is no doubt about it sir." One of the exorcists said, his companion still taking samples from the body. "It's the same culprit, even the energy matches."

The leader's face went red in anger; "This is the fourth causality just this month. Those _devil scums!_ "

Oh?

"…Proceed normally, mark the place and try to follow the trail. Let's see if it leads us somewhere this time. The rest..." He singed, pushing his fury back, "Clean the body and bring it back to the church, it must be exorcised before we give him a proper the burial."

 _So the Devils are picking a fight with the church huh?_ \- That would be childish to assume. While hostility and even open conflict still happened between the factions, no one is foolish enough to act that brazenly... and with actual demonic energy left behind in the crime scene! Really? That's a beginner level set up right there; Devilkind works better than that!

It was undeniable that someone in this city is trying to start a conflict between the two factions; they're either a member dissatisfied with the status quo or an interested third party.

Either way; it's clear that Kuoh's current state is a lot more interesting than I initially thought, I wonder what Cleria knows about this situation. I must get a full report from her soon; this could disturb my future plans.

"Father Toji."

 _WHERE THAT FUCK DID THESE FUCKERS CAME FROM?!_

"S-Saint Shidou! Brother Yaegaki! What brings you here?"

Seriously, these two fuckers somehow avoid my _all_ of my senses, even _their shadows_ managed to slip past my radar, _somehow!_

"You did good work Father, but we'll take it from here." A tall, powerfully built man with brown hair and hazel eyes said kindly.

My bullshit Archmage Essence began working on them, that alone told me that they were using magic of some kind, the information started to pour in…Weird, it hurts my mind to know about this, quite a lot too, if I didn't have the Warlord Essence I don't think I'd be able to process it.

The leader suddenly tensed, "Of course, we will leave as soon as possible," Then he turned, and shouted orders to the rest.

Interesting, my eyes told me that they were using a relic of some kind- Well, the brown haired one was using it, but he was sharing the effect with his companion; a handsome Asian man with long black hair holding a katana. The relic was slowly erasing their presence too; only to rise again when they made a movement; the more they stayed still, the more difficult it got to focus on them.

Is this Faith? Or Holy Energy? I've never felt something like this before. Interesting, I wonder if the Holy Light feels like that too.

The rest of the church members were very quick to leave the area. The brown-haired man sighed as they did, then his whole posture suddenly changed, any trance trace of kindness melting away completely.

"Show yourself _Devil,_ or I will drag you out."

…What?

 _What!?_

Did he just…

He… H-He felt my presence, _from inside of a shadow._

I didn't panic, because I was trained not to, as this kind of things can kill you in battle, but my thoughts became a lot _sharper._

The acceleration of my thoughts gave me the time I needed to analyze the situation. The Holy Energy the two were exalting emanating no longer looked like a confusing mess to my senses, the more I **looked** , the more sense it made; the long-haired one carried a protection cross around his neck, along with a katana that radiated Holy Energy, but nothing aside from that, the brown-haired one seems unarmed at first, but he was carrying a virtual _arsenal_ of holy relics.

There, in his finger, the golden ring was reacting to my presence somehow; it didn't tell him exactly where I was, or even that I was inside the shadows, but it told him I was close.

Okay, it's decided; I must study Holy Energy as soon as I can. I had never been detected before while I was in this state, even by high-class devils. Thank goodness I didn't try to spy on a Satan using this trick; this proves that I'm not completely undetectable, and if there are some Devils that could detect me, I bet it's them.

But anyway: the exorcists, what to do? I could leave right now; they don't know where I am, and I don't feel any trap around us, even using my new way to sense things. There is nothing they could do really do to stop me.

However…

If I leave now, the tensions between the factions will increase. Going by the words of the church members, these bodies have been showing up frequently, all with demonic energy flowing around, and now, in the newest crime sense, they actually detected a Devil before he left, this would be all the excuse they need to start a conflict.

In fact, the increase in tensions seems to be inevitable right now, even if I show myself. Things had simply escalated too much, at least that's the feeling I was having.

Luckily, I have a third option, something that could help with this growing conflict. Plus, I'm sure having an eye inside the church, even if temporarily, will be helpful.

The long-haired man did a double take when he saw me walking from the shadow of the walls, the brown-haired one didn't even blink. He just kept looking at me with a hateful calmness that I had seen on Gerhardt's eyes many times.

"This trick isn't going to work Devil; I've purged many of your filth who attempted to hide behind juvenile images." He said casually, making me wonder how many of them were actual children.

I ignored the comment. "Good afternoon!" I started cheerfully, "Now, I would like to make it clear that I'm not responsible for this incident. Believe me; if I wanted this man dead, I wouldn't leave his body in the open, or fill the air with incriminatory energy."

"Oh, I'm well aware of that." The Brown-haired exorcist smiled; it showed a lot more teeth than necessary, "But, in my personal opinion, why should we waste time and effort trying to find the specific Devils who did this, when we could just focus on eradicating this city's Devil infestation once and-"

"Sir!" The long-haired one interrupted. "Please."

The brown-haired man gave him a long stare, but in the end, he buffed a consent.

"Sorry about that." The man began, earning an annoyed look from his superior. "My name is Yaegaki Masaomi, may I have your name?"

"Hello, Yaegaki Masaomi, my name is Bell Cranel," I said blandly. "If we you are willing to talk, I guess I'll go directly to the point; are you willing to let me go?"

His next word died, his eyes showing his regret.

Good; because _I_ was not willing to let them go.

My following smile was full of regret; it was so easy to fake it. "Then, there is no place for words at all." Not until you puppets have your proper springs.

"No, there isn't," The superior agreed with me with a satisfied tone.

Yaegaki sighed, his hand moving to his sword while he took a stance, "There is truly no other-,"

"Masaomi-kun," The superior cuts in. Oddly, he looked calmer now that the battle was about to start. "Don't let this monster fool you. He has no desire for peace." He pulled a leather book from his pocket, opening close to his face. "We must uphold the duty our Lord entrusted us. Amen."

Then, he began to pray.

He was speaking in a normal tone, but the words came surprisingly loud; they brought a distracting amount of pain in their wake.

I pushed the pain to the side, focusing on the esoteric aspects of the words-

Hoh?

...This is very, _very,_ _**very**_ interesting.

The words themselves aren't causing the effects; they were activation phrases for a _**Worldwide Mega Spell**_ that seems to cover everything on this reality.

I can't believe I didn't notice this before. I will make sure to pay _very_ close attention to this in the future.

"Yes Shidou-san," Yaegaki conceded. I noticed that the words were having the complete opposite effect on him, they had strengthened him past the human limit and were continuing still. "I'm sorry, child." He lamented and _dashed_ towards me.

My wind spell met him midway, but it seemingly slipped past him without difficulties. Soon I was in his range, and his sword came bursting out of the sheath.

I kick the sword back inside, my finger flying toward his chest like a pistol-

 _*Shiiiiing*_

I land a few feet's back, with a long cut on the arm I had used to block the blade. The injury burned with an unnatural intensity, not that it bothered me of course, but it was the most painful injury I received on my life.

"Interesting. Is that a Holy Sword?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"I'm afraid not." Yaegaki was quick to sheath the sword, the wind still spinning around him as result of his iaijutsu technique. "But it's enough for my duty."

"Pity, I really wanted to see one." There was a moment of silence, and then we both _moved._

Yaegaki raised his speed and I matched him, and then raised it again in an attempt to catch me off guard. I found that adorable and kept our speed even as we slashed and punched around each other.

His technique was superb, and that's coming from a master of the sword. He always swung where it mattered the most and moved in a way to conserve his energy. I let him sneak a few wounds to encourage him to show me more. The blade used to burned burn my skin the first few times it touched, but as my Warlord Essence dictated: everything that didn't kill me, only made me stronger, so soon, I began to adapt to it. Even the praying words and Holy Energy didn't burn as it used to.

His next swing was coming from the left I- Huh?

A great weigh fell upon my shoulders, it made my movements more sluggish and cost me a long cut from chest to shoulder. I jumped back to create some distance and sent an annoyed glare to the Shidou guy; who had added a golden cross to his prayers.

Right, forgot that I can forget about him if he stay still, that's annoying.

"Give up." Yaegaki tried, seeing my bloody state in oppose opposed to his untouched one, "If you surrender now… we will… let you…what?"

 _Hah!_ I was right!

The strengthening effect of the praying was cool, and it would be formidable against a regular devil. The combination of a skilled warrior growing ever stronger, and weakening, pain-inducing prayers could be a nightmare for a Devil. However, the words just made him stronger, he still was was still very much human, with normal human weakness.

"Well, it was fun." I mocked while the exorcist fell to his knees as each breath failed to bring oxygen into his body.

I smiled, appearing before him with a burst of speed higher than anything I showed before, my hand already on gripping his head. "But you know who how it goes right? Another day, another death-"

I couldn't help it but smile as I was forced to jump back to avoid the freaking laser beam that was shot at me, but it made no difference. While I used to need five seconds to lay my claim before, two and a half is enough now.

I even released the wind spell that was suffocating the younger exorcist as a gesture of goodwill, but I don't think they realized that.

"Let this be a lesson to you, Masaomi-kun." The senior exorcist was standing in the place I was a second ago, his many holy relics thrumming with power. "The Devils can come in many forms and look like anything, but no matter their appearance…" Furious hazel eyes locked themselves on me, "Do not underestimate them."

"Yes, Shidou-san," Yaegaki said humbly, raising to stand behind his superior, he then pulled his own book from his pocket.

So, switch places huh?

"So, Devil child." The senior exorcist- Shidou, I believe- spoke with mockery on his voice, a scornful smile growing on his face "You said that you wanted to see a Holy Sword…"

Condensed light crystalizes around him, the Holy Energy from the relics synchronized with a growing hymn. The particles of light just now becoming visible seems to gather beneath his outstretched palms.

And just like that; it was here.

A long sword with the blade embedded on the ground, a simple golden crossguard with a jade colored handle; it didn't look to be anything other than a beautiful, decorative sword but it's mere presence deafened those of the other, inferior, holy relics.

Scarred hands raised the weapon with intimate familiarity; the tip pointing towards the sky while the swordsman entered a rigid, prideful stance. The fading sunlight reflected on the metal was magnified tenfold, the air around the blade seeming to resonate with supernatural sounds, almost like an orchestral choir.

"Behold hell spawn! The last sight you'll ever see; the sword of prayers Fidelacchius!"

...Well, it got style all right, the presence this thing has was undoubtedly striking. Perhaps I should invest in a Demon sword of my own; I knew how to use one after all.

I felt a feral smile curling on my lips. "Bold words holy slave. Why don't you try putting them to the test?"

The guy eagerly met my challenge. In a blink he was in front of me, sword raised high, and a war cry flying from his mouth. The blade was glowing so bright it looked as if it was made of pure light.

 **"** Ely? **"**

The exorcist's fast movement violently crawled down to a halt. The rest of the world had frozen much earlier, leaving me alone with the words in my head.

"Yes mother, are you ok?"

I waited a few eternities for her to adjust the speed of her thoughts to the way-above-average speed I was using. Say what you will about the Shidou guy, but at the very least; the fucker was _fast._

"Yes, I'm fine! We just got out of the store! I picked many pieces I want to show you later!" I could feel the happiness she was transmitting... along with the naughtiness.

What that the hell did they find in that store?

"I look forward to it." I sent, trying to keep the images I was conjuring from our metal mental bridge, with mixed results apparently; given her following giggles. "If there is anything more?"

"Yes, um, you see…" I could sense her embarrassment. It was cute. "We found this amazing human invention called 'photo booth', and they can take adorable pictures with little themes on it, so I was wondering-"

"Say no more. I'll be there in a few seconds **.** "

 **"** Really? **"**

"Yeah, I'm just finishing something, I'll be quick." **  
**  
" Alright! I'll see you soon sweetie! **"**

I slow my thoughts to match the world again.

The sword struck down like thunder, leaving an almost solid trail of light and an orchestra of prayers on its wake.

The air trembled with the shock wave that followed; the intensity was so high that it shook the walls of the building forming the alley. Luckily, none came down.

"It's Shidou-san, right?" I asked calmly, looking at the exorcist's shocked eyes. "Thank you for the fight Shidou-san. I learned quite a lot from it. However,..."

He tried to move back, but the sword stayed on my unbreakable grip, the light squashed between my Haki-cloaked fingers. It was a weird vision given that my hand was barely big enough to envelop the width of the blade.

"Something more important than you came up." My shadow moved from the inside, it touched my eyes and voice, simulating what Abby does when she possesses my mother. **"So, I have to make this quick."**

-0-0-0-

[XXXXX's Pov]

My back slammed against the wall as the wave of sheer relief took away my balance.

After a day of wandering around asking people for information and suffering numerous flashes of recollections, my head finally put itself together, and I remembered everything.

It's true. I…I can't believe it.

 _I'm free!_

"Oh God Thank you!- _Ouch!"_

I brought a hand to my head from the momentary pain, but it hardly matters. My relief relieved laughter still continued and the tears of joy still rolled.

After an eternity of soul-crushing pain, this one felt almost enjoyable.

I was eventually able to calm down and gather my thoughts for my next move.

I didn't know where I was- oh, the people in this town said that it's name was Kuoh, but I don't know exactly where that is in relation to Tokyo, but this was merely a setback, I can… I can finally go home.

Home… I never thought I would see it again, ever since I accepted that _damned_ offer!

B-But I had no choice. Right! I would have died otherwise. I didn't want to leave them!

…No, that doesn't matter; it's in the past. That dying man is gone; now, _I am better!_

I felt _the power_ rising in response to my emotions, the same amazing power that allowed me to annihilate _them_ so easily. I didn't forget about it; it was always there; swirling inside my chest, but now it moved to my will, it seemed so…present, all-encompassing.

Yes, this will change everything. With this, I can take care of them; with this, I can give all they ever desired. Yes! I knew that I made the right choice! They will surely forgive me!

I pushed myself from the wall and began to make my way through the alley.

Now, I just have to find some way to get to Tokyo, and that will be easy.

 _The power_ spiked once again.

 _Very easy._

I felt like I could sing right now, but I chose to hum instead. Even here, wearing these homeless clothes that I had no clue where I got it, and with these annoying bangs of hair insisting on falling on my eyes; I felt happy, I felt like everything was finally taking a turn for the better.

The sound of wings echoed above my head, and I felt every nerve on my body flare.

I only realized that I had jumped behind a thrash compartment when I hit the ground. Waves of painful, clinical memories flooded my mind as my body curled on itself, trying to become as small as it possibly could.

For a while, I sensed nothing but the pounding of my heart against my ears, the terrified tears running down my face and no stop non-stop trembling of my bones.

Nothing happened.

After a time of nothing happening, I began to calm down.

W-What was that? W-Was that _them?_ A-Are they _searching_ for me!?

What should I do!? Should I run!? H-HIDE! YES! I have to hide!

The sound of wings came again, this time I heard something landing somewhere behind me.

OH, GOD-

…No

 _No!_

I…I _k-killed_ them before!

I have _the power_ now!

E-Even if the power seemed so fair- _NO!_ I CAN'T THINK LIKE THAT.

I'm a Devil now! I'm _mighty!_ I can take them!

 _"Garhhh! This thing is so frustrating!"_

The shout almost made me jump.

What?

 _"Come on! You blasted thing! You can't just show me an energy reading like that and suddenly go dark! It has been days! Give me something to work with!"_

The words made me blink in confusion. Gathering my willpower, I peeked behind to see-

…What?

I-It can't be.

Why would she…

Kyoko?

 _"Wh-YES! There it is again!"_

The same long blue hair flowing down to the back of her thighs like a waning river, the same sparkling gold eyes seriously inspecting the strange device in her hands, and the body- Oh God the body- The same amazing curves that she somehow preserved even after two childbirths.

I-It's her, there is no doubt about it; It's my Kyoko.

 _"What the hell is this thing... Oh crap."_

Kyoko.

Oh~ Kyoko.

How I missed you, my love! I…I… there is so much I must make things right.

 _"Oh crap!"_

She finally noticed me, her eyes widen widened by the shock of seeing me again.

I…I know my love, I know that I hurt you, with my word…with my fists… And then I left, I know it was unfair- but I did it for us! For our family- Oh god, I missed you so much!

And I can tell that she you missed me too.

 _"S-Stay there. Not one more step! I'm warning you!"_

Oh! OH GOODNESS! How!? After everything, I've done! After all the things I did to you! How!? HOW!?

How could you still look at me with so much love?

Oh, my dear Kyoko, I'm so lucky to have you. I…I love you, everything about you; I love the way you nearly stumble when you step back, I love the way your radiance seems to manifest itself on your hands, I love the way your pair of beautiful midnight black wings appear on your back, I even love the odd way you seem to _shrink_ as I get closer.

 _"I said- huh?!"_

I…I want you.

I want to hug you.

I want to kiss you.

I want to touch you.

I want to smell you.

I want to taste you.

 **I want to make love with you**

 _"OH, MY FUCK-"_

 **"KYOKOOOOOOAARHHHHH!"**


	15. Chapter 12

Betas: This chapter was beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back on QQ forum.

Chapter 12

* * *

The sounds of my mother's waning breaths resonated across the room.

She gasped each time the ropes curled. She moaned each time my hands moved her position. She rubbed her sweaty body against mine each time I approached to weave the ropes into new knots.

There was an _intensity_ related to the practice of Shibari, mother and I came to find out. Other bondage techniques were fine and fun, but they just didn't have the magic this traditional Japanese artform seems to have; perhaps the western world has become too obsessed with its leather bounds and fancy gadgets to fully appreciate how _raw_ the simple feeling of rope against skin can be.

"Nhg~" Mother moaned as I grab a handful of her snow-white hair and pulled up, raising her head to me.

I'm not kidding when I said that this was an art form. Shibari is all about presentation; it's essential to put pressure in the right places of course, but it would mean nothing if the line and knots were ugly and unrefined. The whole process is like an artist painting his masterpiece.

And I couldn't ask for a better canvas.

The tears of intensity and the escaped drool had appropriately messed up Mother's pretty face. Her eyes roll around unfocused, while the swollen, reddened lips curled themselves into a watery smile. Beyond her chin, I could see the vast valley of her cleavage, her breasts spilling from the cage of ropes tied around it. The thin yukata she was wearing had long since given up trying to preserve her modesty and was ruffled to the side, serving more to complement the vision than to hide her shame. Amusingly enough; the recent movement tightened the complex knots over her chest area, putting more pressure on her mountains and making them let out more milk as a result.

The vision made me forget what I was going to say and dive to her mouth, as I did countless times since this session started. She trembled against my lips, her tongue immediately dashing to meet mine in a well-practiced dance. We only separated when I felt that she was about to suffocate.

"Gah!" She loudly gasps for air, beginning to fall forward without my support, her body quaking under the tightening ropes, riding the last sensations of our kiss.

I grab the knot on the back of her neck, breaking her fall and adding more pressure on her chest area.

I paused for a few moments to regain control of my own breathing.

"Too tight?" I whispered calmly.

 _"Tighter please~."_ She moaned deliriously, making me chuckle at her impossible request.

The rope is already tight enough to sever regular human's internal organs from the pressure alone; I suspect even non-humans could still be injured from the experience. But mother had the best imitation of the Warlord Essence I could transfer, so she could handle it.

That was as far as an ordinary rope with imaginative knots could go; if I tightened any more, the ropes would snap, thus ruining the experience.

I lowered her upper body to the futon, pressing it against the fabric and swiping a few soaked hairs from her face. My other hand moved over the warm flesh of her arched back, testing the tension of the elaborate formation of lines made over her skin.

Her yukata still covered her from the waist down, but that was a very questionable statement given the amount of liquid drenching her lower side, it made the fabric cling to her body, even showing some skin color on the truly soaked places.

And in her position; legs curled to the side of her body while her torso bent between, gave a clear vision of these places to anyone standing directly behind her. That's why I made sure to be in the direction of the door.

She made a guttural sound when she felt where my hand was heading; from my perspective it made the heart-shaped horizon shake.

"Oh Master, please!" Her hips shook violently from whatever debauchery she had imagined. "Please! Please! _Fuck me,_ I can't take it anymore!"

I smiled at her pleading eyes. My capability to actually fuck someone, and the size of my member stopped creeping me out a while ago, my ever-stronger Breeding Essence clearly gave no fucks about what an eight-year-old can or can't do, but then again, I work by porn logic, and following that logic it wouldn't be weird for me to be capable of the act.

"My, what an impatient cow I have." I cooed, stroking her sizable asscheek, bringing more of the wet fabric up, revealing more skin underneath. "But you have to wait a little longer. I didn't even start with the lower side yet." She moaned as I pulled the last bit of the fabric letting the cold air hit her most private parts.

I picked up another coil of rope that was lying near us and moved around her, my presence near her hips made her thrust against the air, clearly suffering from phantom sensations the proximity caused. A hushed frustrated sound coming from behind me brought a smile to my face; it seems that I blocked the vision.

I pressed her left calf to her thigh and began to work, slowly but firmly adding more and more knots and connecting the ropes to the rest as I robbed more and more of her movements.

Finally, I step back, admiring my work.

"Hahh. Hahh… Mhaah… _I can't close them~"_ Mother whined as she tested the new set of ropes, finding that it was very tight indeed. "E-Elyyy, M-Mommy's all s-spread out, Ahh~" she moaned out, and I could _hear_ the smile on her face. "M-mommy sorry for being such a lewd mother-" She began to raise her voice a little, so I had to put a stop to that.

"Hey," I warned while setting my foot over her head, pressing her mouth onto the futon. "Have you finally lost your mind pet?" I rubbed my foot in, watching the shivers of pleasure the action brought to her. "To have the gall to compare yourself to my beautiful mother, know your place pet!"

It's no good for her to say those things when we have an audience.

"Mhhhh! Sorry~" Her blissful apology came out muffled by the futon. "You're right master! I-I'm not Lady Araneya! I'm a cow… _Bella the cow~_ hehehe."

And now she's being cheeky.

With a theatrical wave, a long rope with strategically placed stopper knots previously lying unresponsive on the floor rose to the contraption on the ceiling, wrapping itself around it and coming to rest on my hand.

Then, I pulled.

"Eh!? Ah, aaAAGHMMMM!" Mother yelped was as the rope pulled against her privates, raising her backside until her knees almost got out of the floor. The following sounds she made were incomprehensible.

"And you better learn your place my pretty cow. Otherwise, I will have to punish you further."

I watch as her pussy rubbed against the rope, leaving a very wet trail behind. She buckled when her clit met the first stopper knot.

I released the tension, letting her fall back down to the futon. My eyes trailed over her sweaty body as it twitched and trembled, making me see how close she was to the climax. Her panting was now accompanied by little happy giggles, no doubt because the recent experience showed what was in store for her on this night.

Well, I believe I can do better.

"So!" I raised my voice, "Are you coming in or what?"

Mother didn't react to my words; she was too distracted by the proximity to her orgasm, and the ever-constant pressure over her body wasn't helping.

Our voyeur didn't react for the first few minutes, just enough to make me briefly wonder if she was going to run away like the night before, but soon I hear the Japanese door sliding open, and felt my smile growing.

Belinda was the image of a proper maid, save from the small drops of sweat on her forehead. She approached me with a dutiful poise, hands crossed in front of her long skirt, face slightly tilted down, neutral expression with closed eyes; a perfect image of a loyal maid, so perfect that those that truly know her would double take.

But she isn't fooling anyone. I didn't need to see her legs to know that they are shaking and drenched with rivulets of arousal. My shadow was showing me images of her furiously masturbating by the door since the session started.

Heh, she also forgot to pull her underwear up. I could see it around her ankle, and peeking out her skirt with each calm step she took. I don't think she even noticed it.

"Yes, young master, do you require my presence?"

"Eh!" Belinda's voice made mother jump. She finally noticed the maid. "L-Linda's here- _Oh!"_

"Be silent pet." I commanded, stroking the place where I spanked her, "You only speak when spoken to."

"M-Mooo." She lowered her forehead to the futon and shivered in pleasure.

"Now," I turned to the still silent maid, "What do you think Belinda? I worked very hard to get the technique right, and personally, I think I did a passable job, but I could do with a second opinion."

Belinda's eyes trailed over the intricate formation of ropes, and the sea of milky flesh tied beneath. "It's exquisite" The tip of her tongue poked out, watering her dry lips. "I'm not familiar with these kinds of things. But I believe you have talent, young master."

"If so, it is only because of the pet I'm working with." I crouched down to fix a knot that was moved out of place due to the earlier elevation. "I don't think I would have such easy beginning if she didn't accept me so well," I spoke closer to mother's ear, enjoying the ways my compliment made her tremble.

"…Yes, young master." Belinda seems to mull over something.

I decided to just rip it out.

"So what do you think of her? My pretty cow I mean."

My question made the maid visibly tense.

"Bella is… hard to describe."

"Are you talking about the way she spent the whole afternoon tempting you and Cleria?" I smiled at Belinda's surprised blink, and Mother's horrified whimper. Oh yeah Mother, I'm in full attack mode now. "If so, you don't have to worry, it is in this woman's nature to be as tempting as possible to everyone around her. I can even safely say that she didn't even realize some of the effects she has on people." And by the cute whine that followed, I knew I was right.

Mother is actually pretty good at flirting when she wants to, however, because of her personality, mannerisms, and a dash of Breeder essence, her normal actions and innocent movements worked just as fine, or even better, to enthrall someone.

Today's infamous skirt for example; I'm almost sure she bought it just because she genuinely liked how free it left her legs, I said _almost_ sure, because lately her measure for good clothes seems to be how much it made me blush.

"…However," I stood back. Sending a meaningful look to the maid. "That isn't to say that she wasn't relentlessly flirting with you two. My pet here can hardly control herself near powerful women; they just set her crazy." Well, not really 'powerful women' per se, more like 'anyone and everything that I approved of', if I didn't; then the person might as well have the sexy appeal of a piece of rock in her eyes… It was kinda weird. "Honestly, she became so excited each time one of you got close. It made me a little jealous."

"Ah!" Mother instantly turned with wide eyes, "N-no Ely, you're my most- _NRGHH!"_

I didn't pull the rope very much this time; just enough to shut her up.

"What did I say about speaking out of line, you naughty cow?" I teased. "Don't make me put a gag on you."

Mother whined blissfully, her body still shaking from the rubbing and the shame- more than usual, Hm? Belinda's leering eyes must be making her more sensitive.

I could hear Belinda licking her lips again, "Young master… at the food court, should I have intervened…"

Oh, is she coming to apologize? That's silly. She, me, and everyone there that had noticed what was happening were paralyzed by the steaminess displayed.

"Ah yes, the food court, quite an interesting part of our trip." I hummed, remembering what had happened when we stopped to eat. "Quite a moment isn't it? Worthy enough to be told once again, what do you say pet? Are you going to tell your master what happened to you when you push a woman over the edge?"

What happened at the food court was very interesting indeed. It happened because Cleria is a very virile devil; if she isn't a lust one, she at least have strong tendencies towards it. But recently, her libido was squashed underneath the weight of the responsibility of governing a city at the breaking point, and the stress of not being able to meet with her regular lover like she used to. Our little shopping trip earlier today was the first time she genuinely felt relaxed in a while.

And she did so in the presence of Araneya Dantalion, quite possibly one of the hottest women in the world who radiates raw sexuality at every moment, and at the time, just happened to be wearing a skirt that could be passed for a belt.

So yeah, the City Governor's lust urges came back like a storm, and my dear Mother is a specialist at drawing out those. I'm honestly surprised nothing worse happened.

"Come on." I gave a pull of the rope, "I'm waiting."

"…Huff, Ah…Ah," Mother's body twisted quietly, making the ropes squeak as they spread over her flesh. For a while, only her heavy panting prevailed but eventually it gave away to her melodious voice. "She…She sat beside me, at the table. We were just… eating and talking…guh~." A shiver came from the memory.

I begin to slowly pull the rope. Increasing the pressure on her private parts, enhancing the experience for her.

"I was talking to Linda… I was saying. _Hm~_ … I don't remember…Cleria… she suddenly laid a hand over my thigh."

Mother let out a high-pitched yelp as her pussy met the first stopper knot, with a bit more pressure, her pelvis started to rise.

"Hahh… It was, so warm, so soft…Muhgn~… she kept massaging in these little circles. I couldn't…"

Her entire body shook as the knot slip away and she rubbed more against the rope, now her arousal was visibly drenching it.

"I knew what she was doing… Mhagn~… but…but Ely said we should treat her well… And it felt sooo good…A little bit wouldn't hurt…hehehe~." Her words and tone told me she fully entered the fantasy.

"She kept teasing me for a while…I tried not to show any response." Heh, she failed miserably. "Then she finally, finally rose up all the way-GARH!" I gave a stronger pull, making sure the next stopper knot hit her in the right moment.

She had to take a pause to gather herself before continuing.

"heHeh~She… She touched me~, ahHha~ it was no good~ _Forbidden!_ I barely knew her for more than a day~" The heaving breathing was a constant now, her wide hip bulked against the rope. She was very close. "And… and I…I spread my legs, _I spread my legs like a whore~!"_

I heard Belinda left out a whine beside me. I understood the feeling very well; my pants were about to explode too.

 _"GAHHH!"_ Her knees left the ground, the weight made her slip from the stopper knot and descended firmly to the subsequent one. "She…sHe. Oh~H-Her fingers, so, sO _deep~_ … One, t-two… Ah.. ngh hehehe T-Three…"

Yes, everyone in that food court won't forget that part for a long time, She remembers the event like she was talking normally, but her voice was high-pitched and needy, she was practically moaning each breath out, and her expression was just spectacular.

"My legs- _GuGh!…_ were quaking under the table hehehe~they didn't stop. I put a hand on my face to try to hide …but-BUT! AH!... ah…ah Hgm…S-She Ah!, H-Her thumb p-pressed-"

On the part of the memory where she came, I pulled the rope _hard._ The movement brought her hips to the air, making all the ropes squeak together as they tightened to their limits.

No sound came from Mother for a few seconds; when it arrived, they came first in loud gasps, then a blissful scream started, and her body thrashed violently as she let everything go. She was almost completely vertically hung from the hip, all the pressure of the combination of knots were applied precisely over her squirting pussy.

The melodic cadence she was letting out indicated that the boundary of pain and pleasure has been completely obliterated. Our mind bridge clearly showed that, by her perspective, the world was currently exploding in a flash of pure white.

I watched her completely unravel for a couple of moments, before letting the rope go. I had already positioned myself to catch and gently lay her twisting body on the futon.

"There, there." I cooed, loosening the knot to a comfortable pressure and holding her against my chest. "You were sublime, my beautiful Bella. I couldn't ask for a better pet." I lay a kiss over her head "I love you so much." She whimpered, waiting for the waves of pleasures to stop.

And considering that the ropes were still applying pleasure over her orgasming pussy, I stayed there caressing her splashing body for quite a while.

When she finally relaxed, and the gasp and moans began to resemble normal breathing, I turned to Belinda.

Oh dear, she looks like she was about to pass out.

"So, as you can see there is nothing to apologize." I smile sweetly at her. "I actually find the sight of Mo-Bella being assaulted by attractive women to be extremely hot." And Mother was into it, so I see no problem.

I'm even considering accepting Cleria's 'invite' to visit her apartment. I knew that she intends to distract or drug me to have her way with my 'concubine', but it would be a hot thing to see.

"Ahhh." Belinda opened her mouth to reply, but all that came out was a needy moan. Her eyes widened, and she cleaned her throat soon after. " T-Then, I-I must be going. I-I´ll leave you to your nursing session- Eh!"

She made a movement to leave, but her legs buckled under her weight and made her fall. She blinked cutely from her position on the floor.

"Eh? I-I don't- _Ah!"_ She suddenly brought her legs together and laid her hands over them, her upper body tilting forward until her forehead was against the floor.

…Okay, that's new.

"Hey, are you ok-"

 _"Don´t!"_ She squealed high-pitched, one of her hand flew to my direction in a stop sign. "J-Just…Just don't talk right now Oohh HiH! …" She lets out an enticing feminine groan, "I-I can't hear your voice right now."

Hoh?

That's _interesting._

"Really, Belinda?" the way she squeaked when I spoke made my smile grew more predatory. "I never knew you were this kind of woman…"

"Y-You were mistaken! I-I'm telling you Elias it's not-OH!" Once again, she tried to move, and once again the friction made her stop. "Oh fuck, I'm not wearing…Oh, Satans!"

With a quick, but passionate kiss on my recovering mother's lips, a sight that made the downed maid jump. I stood to my feet and somehow loomed over the blonde.

"Eh?" She shivered when she caught the look in my eyes. "N-Now E-Elias, you shouldn't..." Her words trailed off as I slowly approached.

"Why?" I wondered innocently, "You're _horny_ aren´t you? So much so that even the sound of my voice threatened to set you off." I grinned at her horrified expression.

Woman, did you see what I did to my mother just now? Of course, I would know about something like this.

"You only need to ask you, you know?" I said kindly, but seriously.

"I-I…" She avoided my eyes, "I-It's not that simple."

"It is, you are the one making it complicated," I explained to the silly maid.

"…It's not proper."

And she is making excuses now; I had to resist the urge to roll my eyes. "Since when did we care about that?"

She kept her gaze away from my eyes, but the frequency of her breathing increased with each second. When they finally turned to me, there was a very familiar glint in them, something that I frequently see in my Mother's.

A long hot sigh followed.

"Well." She smacked her wet lips together, curling it into a pretty smile. "I guess it was just a matter of time…"

Her trembling hands grabbed the hem of her skirt, her legs finally answered her commands and spread themselves wide.

The skirt was raised to reveal a pair of absolutely drenched lips with a modest blonde stubble over it.

Yep, she is just a tiny hop away from climaxing.

"Please, young master." She licked her lips, a blush growing on her face. "This needy maid humbly ask for your help."

-0-0-0-

I can't ever catch a break, can I?

I've barely been here for three days and I already got swept in a rare kind of summon, stumbled upon a supernatural crime-scene and found out about an ongoing conspiracy because of it, got in a fight with a pair of high-class exorcists, one that wielded a freaking holy sword, and another that was involved in a classical Romeo and Juliet plot, and finally pounded the hot maid my Mother and I have been grooming for the least few months.

Yeah, a lot of shit happened in this brief period of time. And just as I was lying down between a pair of sweaty, curvaceous bodies to finally get some sleep, with a satisfied smile on my face from my earlier activities, my shadow detected another bullshit for me to deal with.

Granted, I don't _have_ to go, and the two attractive pairs of breasts pressed on each side of my face were making a pretty good case against it. Buuut, this particular situation was almost too good to not poke my nose in.

Someone was wrecking shit around town.

I admit I was expecting something after the events today, but not so soon, and certainly not this idiotic. I mean, anyone can spark a conflict by flying around a human city, destroying random things and threatening the 'masquerade', but there are other, more efficient ways that don't require the effort of erasing a high number of memories and slapping yet another natural disaster label, later.

Usually, I wouldn't bother to go, while I'm invested in ensuring that this powder keg of a town did not explode, I'm not invested enough to leave my marshmallow heaven for it. That is, until I saw who was wrecking shit in town.

Why, in the ever loving fuck, _a Fallen_ ; a member of the most stealthy and tactical of the three factions, was acting so boldly?

The anime didn't portray the Fallen in a particularly threatening matter, with the exception of the higher-ups of course, but after gaining access of Gerhardt's reports, I learned more about the military power and tactics of the two other factions. The Fallen are known to have the least powerful grunts of them all, but they are the only one with their original leadership intact, and their numbers have increased over the millennia due to their ability to reproduce. However, they still uphold their furtive strategies, by not holding obvious territories, not engaging in open skirmishes unless absolutely necessary, and more importantly, acting only in favorable conditions, and going for their objective with clinical precision.

A Fallen flying around wrecking shit in the open went against all the Faction's principles, and it could easily backfire if the other two decided to turn their attention to the new threat and deal with each other later.

That in itself was interesting enough to check out personally, and more than that; a freaking Fallen, here! _Within my grasp!_

In the same day, I got my hand in some church members too; it has to be destiny speaking.

I couldn't help but sigh as I melted into the shadow, far away from the warm embrace I was experiencing. Soon, my lovelies, I just have to mark a bitch, and I'll be back.

I emerged in the local part, the next stop following the hazardous Fallen's crazy trajectory, the very late night chill told me I had forgotten my clothes.

Eh, shadow undies will suffice.

And just as my shadow made me the youngest underwear model ever, a frenetic flap of wings and sounds of trees exploding announced the Fallen's presence, about time too-

 _Demonic Energy,_ it fills the air like an invisible tsunami, I almost lost my balance due to the sheer abruptness of its appearance.

Oh? So, there is more to this situation than I initially thought.

A dark missile shot past me, the trees exploding from its passage.

I _bolt_ toward it, launching myself in the air while forming shadow wings on my back to house the flying and acceleration spells. I, like most Dantalions, am not good in the air, and had to rely on spells to keep the speed up, it just doesn't feel as natural as using my own legs.

Matching the Fallen's speed, I-

Huh?

The Fallen had already passed me, quite far too.

Did they increase their speed when I got close? Because that would make me a little more cautious about- No, they- _they are still flying in the park!?_

It didn't make sense! The Fallen was flying so fast that the trees were literally breaking apart by the speed, so why -no- _how_ were they still in the park? I knew they aren't flying in circles.

I paused for a few moments in the air, watching the physics defying phenomenon of something flying so fast, yet crossing such a small distance.

With an annoyed grunt, I shot to the park once again.

 _Demonic Energy,_ quite a lot of it, it fills the park with-

Wait what!? Why Haven't I noticed that before?

…Something is wrong.

I pull my energy up, powering my mental defenses and adding some new ones, I never had a chance to test it against anything but the theory was solid at the very least. I hope that is enough.

My eyes roamed around the trees, focusing on any magical nodes my senses were detecting. They couldn't be seen by normal vision, but my Archmage Essence didn't give a fuck about that.

I started getting the hints of a spell; a mighty, wide area spell- which was apparently so poorly structured that the only thing holding it together was the immense amount of Demonic energy flowing within. I don't know if I should be impressed with the sheer power dedicated to it, or be disgusted by the half-ass retarded job that was an insult to the name of magic in general.

Still, I never saw something like this, it would be great to learn more, but I had reached the limit of what I could do with only the impressions left in the air.

A panic filled scream brought me back to reality, and I promptly flew to where the Fallen was.

I found her… smashing herself against a tree? Then to the ground, repeatedly.

The crazy display made me blink.

What the hell is this woman doing?

I landed at a distance and was about to call her out when the pain came. A sharp pain in my head that made me stop, not because of the pain itself, but for the abruptness to which it appeared.

Just why am I feeling this pain? and why I felt that it's so important to find out?

The Fallen, thankfully, stopped trying to commit suicide; she fell on the ground with a painful groan, turning to lie on her back with her wings spread against the dirt, she looked really worse for wear, with bruises and cuts covering her form, the torn clothes were doing nothing to hide the sexy underwear.

I took a step toward her, and the pain increased, the Demonic energy in the air- Wait, _Demonic energy!_ The air was filled with it… and its directed toward me!?

No, to my mental defenses! Wait, when did I raise them? OH SHIT, I'M UNDER A MENTAL EFFECT!

I tap down everything I had develop about mental defenses to the maximum, putting it to the test for the very first time. Within the metaphysical plane of my mind, I finally felt the invading spell and managed to direct my shield to fight it. Outside, I began **looking** , trying to find- and quickly finding many hints about the nature of the magic filling the area.

The more I looked, the more it became clear, and the more it became clear, the more I could adapt my shield to match it.

"N-No, Please." I heard a weak whimper ahead of me. "Don- OH GOD!"

I turn my attention away from the weakening spell to the Fallen lying on- No, she wasn't lying, she was being _pinned_ against the ground by an honest to god monstrosity; its form was becoming progressively clearer to my eyes, showing the giant dog-like shape, along with too many arms and eyes swarming from its skin- Holy crap! It looked like Envy from FMA Brotherhood!

The downed Fallen had redoubled her efforts to get away, and it was easy to see why; one of the monster's many pairs of arms had seized her legs behind her knees and had spread the limbs painfully wide, all the while an enormous canine dick took position against her thong-clad entrance, and I don't think the thin fabric will do much to stop it.

Right, monster sighted, now saving the girl.

My fist _bore_ on its side, pulverizing one of the limbs growing from the place… and it only made it stumble a little to the side. Soon, its head started to slowly turn to me, and the many hands around began reaching.

…Okay, slight miscalculation.

My _second_ punch sent it shooting in a destructive path toward the trees. The air was vibrating from the shockwave for a few seconds after it.

The Fallen woman choked out a few breathless gaps. Her legs hit the ground now that they weren't in a monstrous grip anymore. Her tearful eyes blinked confusedly, still adjusting after the explosion of sounds and the rush of air, but soon they focused on me.

"What." She croaked in a heavy tone. Her eyes widened as she takes my image. "What!"

"Yeah." I, the pale, unnaturally hot, sparsely clad and very underage boy agreed. "Crazy day huh?"

She opened her mouth to let out another 'what' but quickly close it. Choosing to look around instead.

"Is it gone?" She asked with a fearful tone

"Yeah."

My casual response made her focus on me again. She regarded me for couple of seconds before she threw her weight to the side and proceeded to try to stand in a way that did not stress her injuries.

I shamelessly took advantage of that to admire her body; I couldn't help it, it was wonderfully well proportioned with curves surpassing even Belinda's, it was attractive even in its injured state. Her clothes were pretty much gone by that point; all she had was the last remnants of a jacket of some kind on top, and a black thong on the bottom.

She managed to stand and turned her pretty face to me, it was the face of a woman who tried to pass for a severe tone, but it felt wrong somehow, like it wasn't supposed to be like that.

Wait, Have I seen her before?

Oh! It's one of the Fallen from the anime! What are the fucking odds of that?!

At first, I wanted her as a mean to know more about the Fallen side of the force, but now I _really_ want her just because. A minor canon character like that, all up for the taking... and one hot as fuck as a bonus.

"Thank you…it almost …" She placed her hand over her mouth. "…Thank you."

"No problem, miss." I smiled at her graceful eyes. "Can I ask for a favor?

"I…" She choked. "Look, I had a long day and…" She trailed off as she looked at my big, shining ruby eyes. "A-Alright, what is it?"

"Would you be my prisoner?" I asked cheerfully

"Wh-" Her eyes widen, truly seeing me for the first time, "You're a Devil!" She gasped, jumping back.

As much as her injuries allowed at least, she landed in a tense stance, a malformed light spear forming on her hands.

"So, that means you won't be my prisoner?" I kept my smile in place.

"Shut up!" She shouted, eyes searching for an exit. "Of course he's a Devil, I can't believe I-"

"Aw, are you sure about that miss? I promise that you'll like it~" I teased, in my 'innocent but dangerous' voice.

"I said. Shut. Up!" She groaned. "I prefer death over being taken as a pri-"

A deep, thunderous roar shook the park, equally thunderous steps soon followed.

The Spear of Light all but evaporated from existence. The fallen look at me with terror filling her eyes.

"Y-You said it was gone!"

"It was," I nodded sagely, "Now, it's coming back."

It was almost comical how the woman's face paled. She tried spreading her wings, only to cry out in pain as the broken bones rasped together.

Well, that's unfortunate-

 **"KYOKKKKKOOOWWWW!"** The monster burst out from the tree line.

Huh? It can talk, neat.

And just as abruptly as it appeared, it stopped. The momentum dragging its body a few feet before halting completely. Countless rows of eyes regarded us with shocked horror.

I blinked, and looked down.

The Fallen woman- Kalawarner! Yeah, that's it!- was clinging tightly to me, her arms wrapped around my abdomen with a trembling grip, her pale face pressed on my side.

"P-Please." She whined, tearful golden eyes looking at me with desperation. "I-I'll be your prisoner, I'll be anything you want! J-Just keep it away from me!"

…So adorable.

"Hey hey, none of that." I pressed my hand on her messed blue hair, my bind appearing inconspicuously around her neck. "You are _mine_ now, do you understand?" Did I cheat and raised her loyalty at that exact moment? Of course, I did. "I'm going to protect you for now on, ok?" I finished with a confident tone.

She became oddly fixated for a moment, before blinking, and pressing more of her body against mine, her face fully against my flesh.

"…Ok." I heard the quiet murmur and couldn't help but smile.

 **"Ah? Ah, A-Ah,** _ **AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"**_

Of course, the monster would ruin the moment. What did I expect.

 **"YOUUUUU!"** It screamed, the many eyes pouring rivers of tears **"YOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOUYOU-"**

"WHAT!" I shouted angrily over it. The crazy voice was giving me a headache.

 **"YOU DARE TO TRY TO TAKE KYOKO FROM ME!"** Kalawarner trembled when it called her like that. **"NO! NEVER! YOU WILL NOT STAND IN THE WAY OF TRUE LOVE!"**

"Whatever you say, Scooby." I began, then decided to tease it a little. "But you're not the one who the pretty lady is hugging."

The beast went crazy after that, screaming and roaring loudly, the countless arms flaring wildly against anything near it, rear legs kicking violently, and jaws snarling against the air like a mad dog.

The amount of Demonic energy it was leaking increased significantly after that.

Okay, that wasn't the best idea.

I'm still confident that I can kill it, but just to be safe…

With a last stroke on her hair, I sent Kalawaner to my barely used storage, where she would be safe and sound.

Problem solved, now what was I dealing with?

The monster wasn't a Hellbeast. That option was thrown away when it began talking. If my own super-evolved Hellbeast can't speak by now then it's safe to assume that none of them can, so it's a Stray Devil.

An _Extremely Powerful_ Stray Devil.

Seriously who the fuck was this guy, a member of a Satan's peerage? A Longinus wielder? I heard these guys made for crazy strong Stray Devils

At least the spell wasn't giving me headaches anymore. My Archmage essence told me everything about it when I saw the caster. It's still disgustingly inefficient in term of structure, but its general existence was fascinating; the magic shaped itself in accordance to its user's unconscious desires, following deeper instructions than its conscious thoughts, and using its vast reserves of energy to manifest itself on the world. It made sense that something like this would be possible, given how integrally connected Devil's magic was to the imagination, but I never even considered something like this before, to think a spell could be made like that.

The Stray finally stopped trashing wildly and focused on me with a furious intensity.

 **"YOU! I'M GOING TO KILL YOu…Ahn?"**

I blinked at its suddenly confused tone.

 **"Kyoko?"**

I blinked again, and checked…yet Kalawarner is still very much in my storage.

 **"I-It I-It's really you."** It breathed out disbelievingly **. "I…I missed you so much."** Heavy teardrops fell all around its body while it looked… it looked at me?

Wut?

 **"Oh Kyoko, I thought about you all those nights Kyoko, I never forgot about you Kyoko!"** It lumbered forward blabbering- nonono-stop. **"OH! Your ethereal white hair is still just as I remembered Kyoko! Your blood red eyes still dazzle me just like the day we first met! And your petite body! Oh, how I crave to have you wriggling under me again!"** Annnd there is the grotesque canine rod. **"OH, Kyoko! Let's consolidate our love once again!"**

…Yep, it's crazy all right; I'll have to put it down.

And judging by the supernatural teams closing in to our position I'd have to do it fast.

Now, how to kill a giant rape monster as fast as possible…

My grin grew to extreme levels. I couldn't ask for a better opportunity to test that.

"Oh my love, I missed you too!" I shouted at the doglike Stray, watching his many eyes light up in glee. Next, I raised my arms as if asking for a hug "I'm ready to receive your love!"

That did it. The stray dashed to me with a cheerful yip, his tongue lolling out of his mouth with frenetic breaths, and his pre-cum drenched dick bobbed disgustingly with each leaping step.

The thing didn't even saw it coming

In one moment it was getting closer to me, preparing to pound my poor ass into submission. Next, the very fabric of reality shattered right in front of it, and _**The Power of Destruction**_ rushed forwards.

A giant path of pure darkness with crimson edges scarred the land. It quite literally obliterated everything in one particular direction, leaving a deep trench on the vast area of the park; I had to push it back in panic, for fear of hitting the city streets at a distance.

I _did not_ expect it to spread this fast, or to be that hard to control.

The few surviving pieces of the Stray Devil fell all around me with wet sounds, marking a job well done.

…Wait, I could have contained it to discover why it was so powerful! I didn't have to kill it!

Ah, fuck it. I got a little angry about the way it wanted to rape me, b-but it was justified right? It was like a defenseless child protecting himself from the scary rapist. Yeah, that was my rape whistle!

The last piece of dead meat fell in the Dragonball Z-like crater that my attack left behind.

I looked at it blankly.

Right, let's get out of here, the supernatural teams are starting to get close.


	16. Chapter 13

Beta: This chapter was Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back in QQ forum

Chapter 13

* * *

"Understood. How long until they get to the city... Already? Man, you church guys work fast… Haha, why are you apologizing Shidou-san? You're just doing your job… I see… Thank you for keeping me informed…Hmm? Yeah, I understand, I'll visit your house another time then… There you go apologizing again, you Japanese people sure are polite."

It was odd hearing the devil hating veteran exorcist that was Shidou Touji speaking with me so politely like I was the CEO of a famous company and he was an upstart employee trying to look good in my eyes.

Still, I'm trying to keep things between us as amicable as possible. I noticed that the newly bound beings reacted much better to their binds if I don't give them reason to rebel, or try to make them change their morals, right off the bat. It was like the Binder Essence was meant to be used by a benevolent boss, which is more than fine for me, as I do not believe in unnecessary cruelty.

Having this conversation in a light-hearted tone also helped alleviate some of the unease I was feeling.

"So there are pieces of that stray devil left, good to know… Yes, I understand, it's regretful, but we can't help it… Yes, that will be all, Shidou-san. I wish you luck in the following days, sounds like you'll be busy."

 _"Thank you Elias-sama. May God watch over your endeavors as well."_

Turning off the ancient looking, 2002, house phone, I spent a few moments mulling over his words and the stab of pain they brought with it.

'May God watch over my endeavors' hm?... As expected of a holy sword wielder, looks like I'll have to visit him soon.

Another thing to worry about.

Sighing heavily, I start to make my way downstairs to the kitchen, pausing only for a moment to close the corridor's window, to keep the cold early morning air from coming in.

The tension that had been growing in the city had finally exploded. I expected something like that after the events of yesterday; there was just too much blatant destruction, too many innocents injured or dead, and too many people throwing accusations around. It was easy to see why it reached the breaking point.

Skirmishes between the Devils and the Church happened yesterday, but most of the focus was still in covering the destruction made from that weirdly powerful stray devil from the public eye. According to Shidou-san, the church is going to start making their move tonight; they've already recalled the rest of his elite exorcist team and everything. My early call from my contact inside Cleria's operations told me something similar.

This day is the calm just before the storm. When the sun sets, a biblical shadow war will be waged within Kuoh Town.

And that would have been fine before. I did my homework before coming here, I knew about the situation from the Dantalion's reports. Hell, I knew even more about it after I took over the devil operation on my first day here.

Before, I would have just laughed and watched the world burn with some popcorn, maybe even provide help to my fellow devils if it didn't compromise my presence or fun. I had everything under control.

Then I caught a little black bird and made her sing for me.

I passed beside the dinner table where a devil maid and a fallen angel were sitting with utterly blank looks on their eyes and a neutral expression on their faces, and moved toward the kitchen, where the most beautiful woman in the world was cooking breakfast. I had to double take seeing her enraptured by the cooking while enthusiastically shaking her hump to a humming tone.

Had been the maid who seen this vision first, she would be dead, her every ounce of blood painting the walls right now.

Mother's naked apron is deadly.

"Good morning, mother." I greeted, clearing my throat.

She turned to me with a bright smile "Morning Ely- _GAH!"_ She flinched like she was struck, one hand going to cover her face, "ELY! Y-y-y-y-y-you!"

"Yes, mother?" I asked innocently.

"YOU'RE WEARING THE SWEATER I MADE FOR YOU!" She made a squeaky sound, and blood suddenly burst from her fingers. She fell bonelessly to the floor soon after.

Predicting that, I moved my shadow to take over the cooking while I approached her prone form.

 _"Ahh~ Mama is happy."_

"I'm sure you are." I said, gently turning her head to the side and cleaning her nose with a tissue, "Mother, it's particularly cold today, so I'm going to drag you under the kotatsu and hug you for a while, ok?"

 _"Take me now!"_

"Yes, mother."

And like that, I was lying under a warm kotatsu, with my head between my favorite pair of breasts and my Mother's inviting body in my arms; paradise had nothing on this.

"Hum…" I felt her playing around with the sweater, poking between the misshapen weaves on the fabric. "It's still no good…"

"It's good."

"It doesn't match your perfection."

"It's good." I buried myself more on her soft flesh.

"Mou…" She changed our position, rolling me onto my back while laying most of her body on top of mine. She raised her upper body to look me in the eyes, making a curtain of snow-white hair around us. "Alright, tell mommy what's on your mind."

"…I messed up."

"Hooow so?" The way she drawled the word would've been irritating if it was any other person.

"The Old Satan Faction… They completely slipped under my nose. I should have realized they were here on the first day." If it wasn't for Kalawarner, I wouldn't have noticed them until the very end.

"Oh, that. It's ok."

"No, it most certainly not ok!" I couldn't help but to raise my voice a little. "They could have seen us; the Dantalion's heir and his expedition, right in the middle of a contested town. What are they doing there? Especially considering he's supposed to be in a Devil town in the middle of nowhere! Do you know the kind of leverage they would gain if that was the case? Hell, we don't even know if they have seen us! By now that information could be in their leaders' lap for all we know! It could ruin everything I tried…" Twin pools of blood evaporated my anger simply by looking at me kindly. "… Maybe coming here was a mistake."

"Ehhh." Mother drawled out again, her tone dripping with amusement. "Ely can be really childish sometime."

Wh-I do not!

"You totally do!"

"Stop reading my mind!"

"S'not your mind silly." She leaned down and left a moist kiss on my cheek. "It's your face!"

My face. Really? I have the martial training of thousands of different masters inside my being; some of them don't even exist in this universe. The level of control I have of over my body is unmatched; there is no way something so simple like a strong emotion would have-

Mother smooched me again, her ruby eyes doing that odd shining thing… What was I thinking again?

"Hehehe, Ely with his guard down is so cute!"

As usual, she destroyed any kind of distance our bodies had.

I enjoyed marshmallow land for a few moments… that might have gone to a few minutes before turning my face towards the air. "…I still messed up." I said from her cleavage, her boobs on my cheeks making my voice come out weirdly.

"Oh sweetie," she rolled on her back, so I could be the one lying on her. "Sometimes things we aren't expecting happens. You can't control everything."

"But I _have_ to; our position is too delicate to just..."

"Our position… You shouldn't be thinking like that Ely… Ne Ely, what is the most precious thing to you?"

"You," I responded without hesitation.

 _"GUH!"_ And her hand immediately went to cover her nose and mouth again, her face comically red. _"Ahn~ Today is truly a blessed day-_ No! Mama has to focus!" And she looked back to me like I didn't see that whole thing.

"T-Then." Is she really going to pretend that did happen?Very well then. "Mama is the most precious thing to you right?"

"Right." I went along with it.

"Right, so has Mama been stolen from you?"

"…Is that a trick question?"

"Just humor me Ely, Mama is trying to be wise!"

"Ok." I tilted my head to one of her breasts, might as well get comfortable. "No."

"Yes! Mama is still here!" She looked down at me and poked my cheek. "So why are you acting like I was stolen?"

"…What?"

"You overthink too often sweetie. You always have a plan for everything; you never take a step without looking at it from every angle. You never interact with anyone without having some power over them. You leave nothing to chance and take no risks, everything you do is calculated in some way, shape or form." …W-who the hell is this woman looking at me with such intense eyes?! "But if something unforeseen happens, something suddenly changes, or something doesn't go according to your plan; you act like I was stolen!"

"Mou!" She rolled us to the side, grabbing both of my cheeks and making me look at her. "Listen, Ely; you can just-"

"I got it," I said tapping her hands. "I'm freaking out too much about the problem." … No, worse; my worries _are_ justified, but I don't even know the scale of the problem, or even if there is a problem in the first place; I'm letting the _possibility_ of a problem cloud my mind

… I feel _so_ dumb right now. "Do I do that a lot?"

Mother nods her head energetically, "Yep!... Not a lot though, because things rarely don't go the way you want."

"And how do you know that?" Or more importantly, who else knows that? Have I always been like this?

"I know everything about you silly." She brought me closer once and kissed my forehead. "And you're _wrong_ Ely, coming here wasn't a mistake. We had so much fun!" She whispers against my skin.

Yeah, it wasn't; considering the things I managed to achieve here, the doors I managed to open, the seeds I managed to plant… the knowledge about old style summoning alone was worth it.

But above all, I had a hell of a fun time with my mother.

"That's what you want the most, right mother? Having a fun vacation?"

"Yup! Every day has been wonderful!"

"Yeah, it has been for me too."

…There are just a few… _loose ends_ , that must be tied immediately.

I felt a smile growing on my face. "And today is going to be another wonderful day, but first…" My shadow surged from under her, pulling her arms to the side and locking her hips and legs in place, she lets out a cute exclamation of surprise while that happened. "I must enjoy my breakfast…" I said in a low tone, using my fingers to tease the two puffy nipples, which have gotten hard from all that rolling around. I could practically feel the delicious milk swirling inside.

"Hehehe, Breastfast- _Ahn~!"_

-0-0-0-

Let me say this now; the show doesn't do the Old Satas Faction justice.

They got the basics right; an organization hell-bent on overthrowing the current government to replace it with one that would bring back the 'glorious old ways' of devilkind, all not-so-secretly supported and led by the descendants of the old Satans and their many vassals. However, they certainly stumbled on the details.

In the show; they are a lot, and I mean _a lot,_ more gung-ho than they are in reality, launching massive attacks and boldly maneuvering their manpower at the drop of a hat, seemly without thinking of any strategy other than big-ass frontal assaults with a shitload of cannon fodder and one of the Satan's descendants leading the charge, or the slight variation of a big-ass frontal assault with a shitload of cannon fodder and one of the Satan's descendants leading the charge disguised as an ambush.

Granted; in the show, they did have an alliance with the motherfucking dragon god of infinity, so I can see why they would be overconfident to the point of being stupid, but still a sharp contrast to how they act now.

The Old Satan Faction of today is a threat because they're _subtle,_ not because they're strong. They are a secretive and widespread organization with operatives and sympathizers in every facet of devil society, especially among the oldest and more powerful families, which can see that the Faction's ideas about the weakening of devilkind and the consequences of the 'new ways' of devils does have a very valid point, as reincarnated devils in general are much weaker than a natural born one, and the new ways bred fragility in the spirit. The only thing really holding them back from becoming a more than a terrorist organization, is the idea of replacing current Satans with the descendants of the old ones, because not only the current Satans work very hard to cultivate their popularity with the masses, but they are also some of the most powerful devils to ever exist, and nothing motivates a devil to follow along like a more powerful devil.

Case and point; I didn't even know they were here until I captured a fallen angel specifically sent to keep an eye on the devil/church goings on the city and found a list of names of devils that could be working with them.

And that is bad for me, _really_ bad for me.

The worst possible scenario for me now is being discovered of not being the obedient heir of one of the most peaceful of the pillar families. I'm avoiding that, not by overly hiding my true nature, but by controlling all and every eye that might fall upon me and my actions at any moment, after all; I don't have to change how I act if I can change how people perceive me. And that's why I went through great lengths to ensure that all the personnel that would be interacting, or even had a chance of interacting with me, are under my complete control.

But I had no idea of the Old Satans Faction's presence (a naïve and grave oversight that _won't_ be happening again), therefore; I didn't make sure that they won't be singing to their overlords if they saw me walking down the streets.

I don't know if they're aware of my presence or not, what are they doing in the city, where they are, how many of them there are, or how involved they are with the city's current situation.

But I do have a list of names provided by my new fallen prisoner, and I can make anyone talk by touching them for three seconds.

Couple that with the fact I can use my shadow to get to anywhere in the city and it isn't hard to see why I got results so quickly.

The woman I was waiting for, turned the street corner in a hasty pace. She adjusted the straps of her bag to a more comfortable position and checked the tiny clock on her wrist. Her eyes widened slightly by what she saw, and the click clack sounds of high heels meeting the concrete of the sidewalk became more frequent.

A perfectly ordinary Japanese woman trying not to be late for work in the eyes of the uninformed observer. To anyone more supernaturally involved; an inhuman creature walking with a warrior's guard up, clearly worried about something more important than not getting late.

But she did nevertheless follow the rest of the office workers on the streets into a company building. From there she entered the crowded elevator that was holding way too many people for anyone to be comfortable.

None of the other people realized, that in that very instant the elevator suddenly split in two, with the crowd of already overstressed humans going up, and the not-quite-human woman staying on the same floor.

As the human side of the elevator moved away, the woman places her hand on a specific area above the floor's buttons. Her eyes closed in concentration while an incantation flowed from her tongue, activating the complex magical pattern that shined across the interior of the elevator.

I felt a brief moment of vertigo as I suddenly got cut off from all the other shadows of the city, and the elevator began its descent towards a pocket dimension anchored to this area.

I kept my nerves calm by looking up the woman's skirt from her shadow.

One interesting thing I found out about this pocket dimension; it can be removed from a place and moved to a new one without collapsing and forcefully ejecting whatever was inside it. This is leagues more advanced than what is available to the public, going father than even what Beelzebub's magical division managed to cook off, unless there is some top-secret stuff that I don't know about. The existence of this kind of pocket dimension might explain some of the Old Satan Faction's success, as having an extradimensional base of operation that could be easily moved if the need arose is no joke. The formula for these things is something that I'm hoping to steal while scooping around their stuff.

Also, black lace, nice. Mother would approve.

The elevator finally opens its doors, and the woman stepped outside. While she was being subjected to multiple security checks, I slipped to the nearest shadow and spread my awareness throughout the facility.

Big, that was the first thing I noticed; this whole thing was downright enormous. It was like someone built a hospital/research facility and then expanded the place to the scale of an international airport. With long sterilized gray corridors, ample rooms with various equipment inside, security stations displaying the top of the line in magical and mundane security methods.

Damn, if that isn't at least a major facility for them, I'll honestly be scared of the resource they have. Either way, it seems I hit the jackpot here

This is bound to be a gold mine of information about the Faction, or their objective in the city.

I can make a few educated guesses. Seeing the amount of glass cells holding a worrying number of stray devils and thinking back on that oddly powerful stray from yesterday; I'd say they are studying the effects of the 'straying' process on a devil, maybe trying to make them more powerful to use them as weapons, or to release them in a crowded place hoping to cause a scandal. They _could_ be trying to reverse the process, but I doubt it; if anything it would be in their best interest to accelerate the process, for the entire existence of strays is a major blowback to the evil piece system… Publically of course, behind closed doors everybody and their mothers agree that it's an excellent control mechanism, and most of the effort today is spent trying to keep it under control instead of erasing it all together.

…They could also be experimenting with the evil piece directly; it's unlikely given that very few people can even begin to comprehend those things, but if this is the case then it's an even bigger jackpot.

I can't drool while in the shadows, but it was a close thing.

Right, stealthy take over time! First, I'll have to take care of the many surveillance spellwork… and maybe some of the mundane equipment too; they're less important but covering my bases doesn't hurt. Then I have to bind the personnel; that is, the science people who were doing experiments, and the security people protecting them. After that, I can finally sink my teeth on their sweet, sweet research.

…And find out what information they have on me, that's what I came here for, right? Right!

-0-0-0-

A few hours later, I was relieved and disappointed.

Relieved because the Old Satan Faction didn't have a single thing about my presence in the city. From their reports, and the minds of the personnel working there; I wasn't even the focus.

Turn out they are already tightly embedded inside Cleria's devil operation on the city, and in a funny twist of fate, I'd ended up unknowingly taking control over their entire field team when I took control of Cleria's devils on my first day here, so I had already made sure they wouldn't notice me without even knowing.

That took a _huge_ weight from my shoulders, and even better; now that I'm here I could bind the rest of their operation that I didn't have a chance to bind before, so I'm even more secure now.

Now, that's all well and good, but I still feel somewhat disappointed that after finding such big science facility, I didn't get anything substantial from their records.

They are indeed trying to decipher Beelzebub's masterpiece, but it seems that their research haven't gone much further than my own personal research on the subject.

Granted we have different objectives in mind when it comes to the subject. I'm trying to basically reverse engineer the thing as best as I can; making sure to analyze every single aspect of it, to figure out what made them tick. Only after I'm capable of building an evil piece of my own, preferably with my eyes closed, that I'm planning to change the formula. These guys want to modify evil pieces from the get-go, disregarding the delicate and multilayered spellwork that went to each of them in favor of aggressive changes in the basic formula of the piece. That was weird because it seemed like they took my approach in the beginning, but in the newest logs, they seem to be hushing.

Anyway, their studies didn't teach me anything that I hadn't theorized before, the only good thing they showed was the results of the practical test that I hadn't tried, to which I'm already taking in consideration and beginning to adjust my conclusions accordingly.

But… I had a feeling while reading the reports, a feeling that intensified while I was trying to put together some information that didn't fit; there were a lot of those in the report, loose ends that didn't seem to connect at all, or if they did, it was always in weird ways that didn't have the best explanation of why it happened like this.

It was becoming more and more evident that this information has been tampered with in some ways, that or there were many chunks missing on the papers.

I searched the entire facility for the missing information. From the oldest physical report, still written in scrolls, to the minds of the newest members, and found no trace of it. When it seemed like I wouldn't be getting anywhere, I put down the reports and sank back into the shadows.

Now, what to do with the facility? I have no love for the Old Satans Faction, but I don't dislike them enough to go out of my way to fuck with them, and as far as I can tell, their leader and their associates never really done anything against my family and me, unlike a certain Satan and his cunt of a wife all those years ago...

But still, they are actively fucking with Cleria's operation with almost malicious intent, and the current situation in the city is mostly their fault for not containing their test subjects properly… and there is that whole 'horrible experiment to reincarnated devils thing'; the way they're doing just irked me in the worst ways, soooo fucking inefficient!

I was still mulling about my options, when _she_ showed up.

She stepped in like she owned the place, ignoring all but the most basic of safety checks, and striding towards the most luxurious room of the building; the one that looked more in place in a five-star hotel than an underground laboratory. I admit, I wasn't expecting her.

Now that I think about it, her presence here does make some sense; the Old Satan Faction was too integrated into the devil's city government not to have someone in the high ups supporting them. But even then I never would've imagined it would be someone from Cleria's own peerage…

Regardless, her presence gave me an opportunity to end things excitingly, plus it would be nice to give Cleria something nice after weeks of fighting a losing battle to keep the city under control.

The details of a plan formed readily on my mind… maybe even a chance to have fun after a day of hard work?

Yeah, I'm gonna have a little fun.

"Really!" I chirped loudly, appearing from the shadows on top of a wardrobe. "I would never imagine I'd see you around here!"

The gorgeous woman had opened a compartment in the wall and was transferring some savings into a nearby suitcase. She flinched and quickly circled to my directing, entering a stance that told me of someone who was not accustomed to close combat.

Green eyes glared at me. "Who are you!?" Mei, Cleria's bishop, snarled.

Hum? 'Who are y-' Oh! Seeing Elias Dantalion in a situation where her mind isn't programmed to cope translated in the removal of her capability of recognizing me. That's kinda funny, but it's better not push on those buttons too much or it could literally break her sanity.

"Me? Well, I-" She didn't wait for me to finish and sent a generic fireball at me, which I batted to the side.

The second that the fire covered my vision, she remotely activated the alarm on the facility. They began blasting outside of the room, but no sound reached the insides. From her posture, I can see she is trying to hide that.

Tough shit.

"This isn't gonna work you know?" I said with a mocking smile. "I already took care of the rest." More precisely I sent them all to the storage as soon as the alarm started. There was only us, and the strays devil test subjects now.

The pink-haired succubus narrowed her eyes "So, whoever you are, you managed to infiltrate this highly secured facility, somehow took care of everyone during the time it took for me traverse the place and enter this room, unnoticed I might add, and then you blatantly show yourself?" Her voice was dripping with disbelief. "Let me guess; you have a proposal?"

I made a humming noise, shifting my weight forward and leaning my head on my hand. "No, not in particular. For you, I just have some questions."

Her green eyes blinked, and a sharp light glinted on them. "Ah! I see, so you believe you have me cornered? Eh, intruder-san," She said sweetly, her mouth slowly spreading into a predatory smile. "You chose a very…" the air around her began to shimmer, her surrounding start to undulate softly, _"Very."_ The undulations suddenly increased, a pinkish aura formed around her, and her hair began to move in an unseen wind. "Dangerous time to believe that."

I let out a drawn out whistle, seeing the bishop powering up Dragon Ball Z style in front of me. "Woah that's actually impressive." And it is; she's drawing more power than my Mother right now, and Mother is a pureblood pillar devil backed by a bootleg version of the Archmage Essence. "I didn't know bishops could get that high."

"Hmph!" She raised her arm; the demonstration of power somehow made her arrogance overtake her apprehension. Common devil mistake. "I'll give you something to be impressed!"

She snapped her fingers, and a pink Belial styled magical circle appeared- Are those _tentacles!?_

Four Kraken-sized tentacles obliterated the wall behind me, going through several rooms with the sheer size and strength behind their movements.

My mage eyes gave me a better idea of what they are; not actually tentacles, but very detailed and life-like constructs packed with a ton of spells to increase their toughness and speed, and also to give them some esoteric effects. It was _very_ cool to look at, but very wasteful to use, not something that someone could deploy in battle without a shit ton of energy.

"But seriously," I said from beside her, making her flinch again. "That amount of energy is unnatural among bishops, unless you were made from one of a pillar devil, which you clearly aren't…" More tentacles blasted the area I was in again; I let the sound of destruction settle before continuing from a different place. "Say, are you one of the successful experiments? Maybe a bishop 2.0?"

"There are no successful experiments!" She barked, swinging one of the already summoned tentacles at me. "No, my power comes from the nature of my _true_ race! Not from one of those cursed pieces!" The smug smile was on her face again.

So she slept with a powerful guy and brought her power to his level… or had an orgy with all the personnel from this facility; it could also be that. It's weird how she counts that as her own power; maybe it's a succubus thing.

"So you're sleeping with the big boss of this place," I comment, lying on the bed with my arms behind my head. "Who is he? Or she? I can see they are powerful, giving the boost they gave you."

She growled, destroying the soft bed I was in and the wall behind it. "He's using the name Souichi Tomoe in this century; he is an old satan loyalist and one of the underworld's most renowned scientist. He is not particularly powerful but his power skyrocket after he stuck that King Piece thingy inside him."

King piece?

There was a rumbling sound and a brief shake, before the floor finally collapsed in an avalanche of metal, glass and electrical wires. The sudden fall must have spooked her because all the summoned tentacles lashed out one last time before the magical circles serving as their base destabilized. The attack made the subsequent floor collapse, bringing us even lower with a sea of debris and destruction following behind.

I noted with some interest that she landed with too much grace to not be a deliberate move on her part, the shield she immediately raised to act as an umbrella against the fallen wreckage helped in that assumption.

Interesting.

"King piece?" I called from a top of one of the highest piece of the collapsed ceiling; this made her widen her eyes and turned to my direction. "What is that?"

She lets out a frustrated growl. "I have no interest in your devil's little magical shackles! As far as I know, it's an item that enhance a devil's everything." She tried something new this time; the tentacle came from beneath me with no magical circle to give out where it was coming. It was a good move, but without a circle, it wasn't stable enough to stay materialized. She also seems to be learning her lesson because her eyes began searching for me along the battlefield. "Using that thing, Souichi went from pretty average, to feel more powerful than the Belial bitch." She snarled while she searched for me.

A _King_ piece… it makes sense; it makes so much fucking sense. It always bugged me how Ajuka went through all the trouble of creating each chess piece and make them give benefits related to their role in a chess game, and yet forget about the most vital piece of the game. I had concluded some time ago that he didn't bother with it, as the owner of the peerage is supposed to be the king, and they would, obviously, already be a devil.

But no, he _did_ create kings pieces, because _of course,_ he would. A magical item that permanently increases the user's demonic energy and strength; what kind of devil would refuse that?! Hell, there are many today that consciously choose servitude for the power of a Queen piece, imagine what they would do for something more than that, especially if the king piece is how I'm imagining and doesn't come with that pesky 'years of servitude' thing. Makes me wonder why they aren't available to the public.

Wait… _The missing information!_ Holy shit, a lot of things made more sense know, reviewing the records from the base. They aren't doing experiment with any other evil piece; they are working with a _King piece._

Now I'm really, _really_ interested

By that time, the strays that managed to survive being buried by tons of falling debris, which considering they are king piece's super strays; was all of them, started to bust out from their prison. Then they directed their rage for being experimented on the nearest outlet; Mei the talkative bishop, or, in the case of the dumb ones, each other.

The succubus-turned-devil scowled in disgust at their mutated vision. "Animals" She muttered, raising her arm in the direction of the coming horde. "Disappear!"

Then, I got to see what happened when the tentacles meet their mark; their strikes were so fast and so maneuverable that they moved like a blur to the naked devil eye and could change their direction mid-swing to bypass the guard of the few still cognitive enough to block it. Their natural moisture reacted to touch like a strong acid; a single brush was enough to melt a stray's flesh to the bones; many fell by that characteristic alone. The others, with tougher bodies or natural armor, were quickly bound by the numerous appendices and had their life force stripped from them, their bodies shriveling up in the process.

The massacre distracted me for a few moments; this spell was really cool.

"So." I comment, standing beside her, closer than I ever been since the 'fight' began "I couldn't help but notice that you're harboring a dislike for your king. May I ask why that is?" Technically, I already got everything I wanted from her, but the comment about Cleria and the hints she gave made me curious, so much that I genuinely wanted to know the reason; Cleria didn't strike me as a bad king.

She turned to me with wide eyes, her mouth opening in disbelief "Dislike- ah!" She pulls a lady-like outraged gasp, "Dislike?… I _hate_ the bitch!" Her fury was so much she even forgot to attack.

"Do you think I wanted this? Do you think I wanted to be a devil?! To leave my friends, my family, my _daughter_ behind!? NO! Of course not! That BITCH! She _hunted_ me! She even brags about it today. I had to leave my life behind because she wouldn't stop pursuing! I had to get away from the people I love for fear of them becoming targets! And when she finally 'caught' me, as she likes to say like I'm a _fucking game,_ she changed my entire species, made me wear provocative clothes because I'm a succubus so, of course, I _must_ be a slut, then she ra- _raped_ me!" Her fury was affecting her spell, if it was cast using the human magic system, it would've destabilized and disappeared, but because it was the devil's; it just made it more vicious. "I don't even like women! But she keeps making me do _things_ to her and the others, to strengthen the bond of the _fucking_ peerage she says. Fuck! I don't want this! I don't want to get involved with the three factions! I don't want to have sex with people that I barely know! I don't want to fight for people that I hate!" She shook her head, eyes filled with angry tears. "Yet I have to because the bitch is my _KING!"_

…

… Damn didn't expect this.

A _heterosexual_ succubus!

Also, her story is quite somber; unfortunately, it's a common one among devil society. Even the kindest of kings is still a high-class devil that grew up among nobles that looked down on everybody. This kind of upbringing leaves traces behind, and even if the devil completely rejects the lifestyle, they still would exist. One of the most common of these traces is the disregard for the opinion of those 'beneath' them; one way or another a noble will believe his opinions, needs, and desires are better and more just than others of a lesser station, even if they do so subconsciously.

Another sad thing is that the evil piece system incentivizes this behavior, I don't know what Cleria does to peerage members who disobey, but no matter if she doesn't do anything, or if she abuses them on a regular bases, they will eventually create a reason on their head to do what they are told. And they will eventually come to accept or even like their situation. The bad memories related to their kings are softened and excused, while the good ones are intensified. If this confrontation had happened with Mei being a few years on the peerage instead of being a fairly recent addition, her opinions about Cleria would be a lot different.

In a way, the Evil Piece system has a longer-acting, less-versatile, but _just as powerful_ version of my Binder Essence.

Okay then. Knowing that, maybe I can change the plans a little.

"Wow, I'm sorry to hear that," I said kindly, patting her on the lower back. Her shoulders slumped a little. Did she forget we are enemies? "So, because of that, you joined the Old Satan Faction?"

"Joined? No." She shook her head while cleaning the tears. "I stumbled into them a couple of months back and saw an opportunity to make the bitch pay. Souichi is more interested in finding some lost test subject than to lead this branch, he doesn't give a fuck if I use his personnel to cause chaos among the church and the devils, as long as I keep his dick warm and stay out of his way."

"So you want a war between factions?"

"I don't really care about that. But the bitch has a lover associated with the church, you know? They have a quite literal Romeo and Juliet thing going on." A malicious smile suddenly appeared on her face. "I'm only preparing the poison and dagger."

"… I see, thank you for answering my questions."

That jolted her from her thoughts. She blinked, then her eyes gained a horrified look.

"What- _Why did I tell you all of that!?"_

'Because I sent a mental command for you to be truthful and talkative' I explained on the inside.

On the outside, I just shrugged.

"I dunno, maybe you think I'm cute or something."

I had the privilege of seeing her baffled face and twitching eye before her fury broke loose once again.

"ARGGH!" She let out a frustrated scream and jumped back, her arm rising in my direction. I could see the pink magical circle appearing once again, but this time she made it multiply to the sides.

In a second, the entire area was full of pink magical circles.

I see; I can't evade the attack if there was nowhere to evade.

Well, the fight was getting too long anyway.

A _world_ of deadly tentacles burst out. They overtook my entire field of vision-

 **"** **Worthless** **"**

-For about a second, before they got nullified.

The most basic use of the Worthless was wonderfully simple, I just had to throw its weight around, and it would nullify something within my field of vision. And with my shadow spreading my 'vision' throughout the entire base; I could nullify many things indeed.

"Wh…What!?" Mei gasped watching the familiar greenish tint in the air washing the area, "That was… it can't be…" When her eyes settled on me again, they held nothing but fear. "W-Who are you?"

"Just a tourist trying to enjoy his vacation."

Because that's what truly matters.

There was a foreboding screeching sound, like a skyscraper about to collapse, and then the entire facility _quaked._

It was like being in the ground zero of a magnitude nine earthquake; the floor suddenly changed places with the ceiling, and the walls started to dance. All the fallen wreckage was in the air again.

Mei fell on the flooded floor a lot less graceful than before, she grunted in pain as a ton of debris began falling on top of her, but was quick to batter that to the side in a casual display that no bishop should be capable of.

Even her physical attributes are increased… Heh, the succubus's 'get the same level of whomever they're fucking' trick is really something.

"What was that!?" She wondered out loud. I saw no trouble in humoring her.

"That was the pocket dimension popping like a balloon, and the facility being ejected into reality. It seems the dimensional spells that maintained this place have been nullified for some reason." I wonder how that happened.

"What! But-" Her eyes widen in horror. "Then-"

I nodded, "An airport size, Old Satan Faction's facility just appeared in the middle of the devil side of town. Cause quite a lot of destruction too, but not as much as it could have; we showed up in a park."

With my shadow senses, I could see the devil operation mobilizing; there was a surprisingly little amount of confusion beyond the initial shock; I guess they were preparing for shit to happen.

 _"CRAP!"_ Mei got up to move, but then remembered her overpowered opponent.

"Oh don't look at me like that! It's all part of my plan!" I smiled cheerfully at her; it made her recoil in fear, "You should be grateful too; your sob story made me rethink your role in it."

I'm a sucker for beautiful mothers in difficult situations.

Shaking my thoughts away, I began taking out the Old Satan Faction's devils operatives from the storage.

-0-0-0-

Sitting on the roof of a tall building with my legs lazily dangling over the edge, I enjoyed the cold night air against my skin and laid my eyes on the extraordinarily mundane scene in front of me.

With my other senses, I could see beyond the hastily put together illusion to the apocalyptic scene happening beneath.

It reminds me of the show to be honest; red skies caused by the magical barrier, hordes of devils flying through the air fighting each other for dominance, ground troops of magical specialists firing magical missiles to other formations. It even had a group of 'protagonists' in the form of Cleria and her peerage battling against the strongest member of the enemy army.

They were making a pretty loud mess in the magical sense. I wonder why the Church hadn't shown up yet.

Cleria and her crew started on the losing side; the Old Satan Faction outnumbered them two to one, and she had to deal with a mass betrayal among her forces after the infiltrated agents choose that time to stab her in the back. Needless to say, she had her hands full.

All of that changed when she found the dying form of her prized bishop; who tearily lamented for not being strong enough to make the facility self-destruct, only being able to destroy the dimensional anchors instead. She died a hero's death in the hand of her tearful king, very emotional.

After that, the city governor and her peerage became _aggressively motivated_ to make the enemies wish they were never born. Cleria, in particular, was putting a capital 'W' in Wrath Devil by brutally shredding any poor fucker who got too close.

They already turned the tables; it was only a matter of time before they win.

And that's it, Cleria got to work on her months-long stress on the ones responsible for it, and snatch a pretty substantial victory over the Old Satan Faction in the progress, I got to watch a pretty entertaining show, and Mei…

Her newly resurrected form was in my storage; I'll decide what to do with her later.

For now though; let's see about that Souichi Tomoe guy and that juicy King piece of his.

… Or rather… I've been away for a pretty long time, better check up with-

A slight magical pulse on my hand drew my attention, I raise it to my eyes to check the marking on my skin- OH right! I completely forgot about that!

The magical circle activated as I place my hand over my ear. In the future, it will be able to create a small hologram a la Star Wars, but now it can only make voice calls.

"Hey Belinda, how's your mission going? Have you got the thing yet?"

 _"About that young master, there is a slight complication."_

-0-0-0-

 **[Belinda Abamelik's Pov]**

I was sitting on one of the pews of the most prominent church of the city, the one that acted as a base of operation for the faction. The holy oppression I was feeling over my being would have crippled my strength a few years back, but now it felt so light.

 _"… You killed everybody didn't you?"_ Elias asked from the communication circle.

"No, young master." And sent a side-glance to the church members lying unconscious on the floor. "Do you truly believe I would go against my mission this much?" I asked, trying not to sound offended.

 _"Sorry, just preparing for the worst… So what happened?"_

… Now how to explain this?

I took control of my rodent familiar's senses once again, to have another glimpse of what was happening several stories underground. The sight of destruction appeared immediately, along with the smell of blood, and the sounds of a distorted roar that sounded similar to a woman's name.

"The pieces you sent me to recover, it appears that they…" I tried to work on how to say this, but in the end; I choose to be blunt, "Regenerated."

 _"Regenerated? Seriously?"_

"It appears so…" I can hardly believe myself, the only thing that should be able to regenerate to that extent was a Phenex.

 _"So that guy is alive again? Are you fighting it?"_

"No sir, he's still inside the Church's subterranean headquarters. They managed to mobilize quite the resistance there before I arrived; over half of the church's forces are fighting inside, along with the full squadron of elite exorcists."

 _"So he regenerated huh, I should've seen this coming…"_

I could practically hear him getting distracted again. I swear Elias spent so much time considering every little thought that passed through that big head of his that it is a wonder he is able to do anything productive with his day at all! This might bite him in the ass someday, no matter how cute he looks when daydreaming.

But it's ok; he still has time to work on that. He still is a young man after all… a handsome young man who is criminally good with his tongue-

I shook my head vigorously, feeling my cheek burn beneath my facemask; now I'm the one getting distracted!

"Young master," I said firmly to draw him from his thoughts. "Orders?"

 _"Oh right… Look, I'll be there in a couple of minutes, just have to check on M-Bella to ensure that she hasn't destroyed the house."_

I found myself nodding at his reasoning, "I perfectly understand. That woman needs constant supervision. Else she might fill the house with the weird things she buys." How could such a beautiful woman act so childish and have so little self-control, I'll never know.

 _"…Yes… That's is exactly what I meant, got to keep her from filling the house with weird stuff, yeah – Anyway, if I don't get here in time, just wait for the battle to end and snatch the stray for me, the objective's still mostly the same. Don't bother trying to help the church because with how things are it's more likely they will turn on you during, or after the battle."_

"Understood."

 _"Oh, and because there is already a stray devil raising hell you can be a little more lenient about the no-killing policy if you want, just make sure the deaths can be attributed to the stray."_

"Understood young master. Your will be done." I announce dutifully.

 _"Hum, devoted soldier. Sexy~"_ The sudden words came in a knee-weakening boyish tone; it was embarrassing how much they affected me.

And by the laugh, he somehow noticed too.

I-I'm a grown woman damn it! A chil- young man like that shouldn't be able to affect me this much, no matter how sexy he is!

I managed to recover my focus after the call ended, immediately moving my familiars to get a better look of the battle and trying to ignore the unconscious priests.

I admit that after Elias' approval… I was tempting to do something utterly unnecessary for the mission. Maybe it was my old soviet indoctrination speaking. But after decades of fighting the worst that the Catholic Church had to offer as a KGB agent, and then even more as a full-on devil, I developed a healthy dislike toward them.

I wonder if they're still experimenting on kids…

No, can't think about that. Otherwise, I won't be able to help myself.

I got up to move to a better position; my orders are to wait for Elias, or wait for the battle to end, I don't have to be out in the open for that, definitely not inside a church-

Presence! _Hide-_ It's already opening the door!?

"Well well well, look what we have here~" I glared at the man in the doorway, cursing myself for my distraction.

He was tall and thin, dressed with a simple shirt and slacks combo with a lab coat over it. He had well-groomed white hair and blue eyes shining behind a pair of circular glasses. His features could be called handsome if they weren't twisted in a too-wide smile.

"A lost little devil in a church? How curious!" He took a step forward, and I immediately felt a different pressure over my shoulders. "Tell me, little devil…"

He… _changed;_ his entire front side was overtaken by shadows in a way that made me think he was controlling it like Elias. Only the lens of his glasses… and his smile somehow stays shining through the darkness.

 _"Are you going to get in the way of my prize?"_

A grayish aura of dense demonic energy exploded from around him.

To be able to manifest this much in a holy place…

I narrowed my eyes; this man is dangerous.


	17. Chapter 14

Beta: This chapter was beta'd by eveakane and gaouw, back at QQ forum

Chapter 14

* * *

 **[Belinda Abamelik's Pov]**

The church's pews flew as my opponent and I met in the middle.

I ducked under his punch, feeling the demonic energy projected from it destroy the area behind me. Immediately, my body twisted into a stance while burying the palm of my hand on his stomach and sent him flying.

He bounced on the floor once and hit the heavy door, falling face first on the ground.

… I blinked slowly as my mind mused about the impressions I managed to get from this short exchange.

A burst of booming laughter echoes from his throat, his body contorting wildly as the sound progressed.

"Yes, YES! I barely felt a thing!" He raised himself, eyes shining with mad glee. "You will help me in this test!"

I ignored his words and let my hand fall on _Fair Lady's_ hilt, feeling a small smile forming as the magic of the Demon Sword blended with my own in an almost perfect mix.

An enchantment project, Elias called them; he brought the best blacksmith of Hiemsfell to assist him with it. He enchanted the blades as they were being forged, using multiples rituals he developed on his own, a simulation of the Demon Swords' secretive methods of creation. The result was six flawless rapiers, each with its own magic and attributes, more than enough to be called Demon Swords on their own.

The blacksmith cried once they were finished. She had to join the ranks of *Proelium Servus to keep the knowledge that the Dantalion Heir can make Demon Swords from spreading, but she had no objections after the experience.

Among the six blades current hanging on my waist, the _Fair Lady_ felt the most intimate to touch, Elias said they were all made for me, but the lady was the one that fits me the most.

The tip of the blade cut the air with a shrill sound as I aimed at my leaping opponent and _thrust._

A thin vacuum line pierced the air.

"Not enough!" He shouted was a shield formed before him, making the attack push him to the ceiling instead of putting a hole in his heart.

I clicked my tongue; the church's oppressive nature is more effective than I thought.

"Take _this!"_ He pushed himself, shooting from the ceiling like a missile. I sidestepped to the left, trying for a counter the moment he flew past me, but the blade bouncing off told me he had covered himself with energy.

His landing was similar to an explosion; the momentum was so strong that he slid to the wall, leaving a trail of dust and destruction in his wake. I fear the floor would collapse, for a moment.

"Wonderful! Simply wonderful, the physical boost alone would revolutionize the ways of war!" I heard his voice through the cloud of dust. "So, what about…"

My body moved as soon as my instinct flared. I was already in the ceiling, casting a quick spell to keep myself there when the wave of raw demonic energy passed the place I once stood. The energy was so dense it left a purplish trail behind; it's destructive nature doing what it does best on the wooden floor and the stone below.

"Outstanding!" I saw the madman laughing in joy. "That level of energy spent, and I'm still filled to the brim! OH! Is this how an ultimate devil feels all the time!? Truly a sign of my Lord's superiority!"

I landed on the broken floor and straightened my back. Quickly drawing a magic circle in the air as I raised the tip of my rapier to a prepared stance.

Unfortunately, I had to cut my plans short as I see the man manifesting his own circles, and putting _a lot_ of energy into it.

"Now, let's see the effects of a proper spell, shall we?"

Acting quickly, I brandished the rapier around me; it's magic turning the air around its blade on an extension of itself.

The man's circle shone, and the church was enveloped in flames.

The fire twisted and cracked around the done-shape barrier of air around me. The outer layer was redirecting the flames while feeding it at the same time. The inner layer was keeping the air inside calm and breathable. In the thin space between the layers was a vacuum which kept any flames that managed to invade the outer layer from reaching the inner one.

For a long minute, there was only the mighty roar of fire around me, coupled with maniacal laughter on the background and the brief screams of the once unconscious clerics as they burned to death.

So much for keeping them alive…

In a fluid movement, _Fair Lady's_ silvery form was back on its sheath, and the crimson and gold of _Fiery_ _Lover_ took its place.

I waved the rapier in broad circular movements like it was a wand; its scarlet blade easily passed through the barrier and dived into the flames.

The roaming ocean of fire twisted around itself like a whirlpool, rapidly condensing into the blade, its endless rage and heat leaving only a bright glow behind.

With no fire left, I could see the scorched interior of the church; the stone walls were melted slightly; only the Holy energy kept it together, the beautiful stained glass on the windows that depicted some of the Church's holy con-artists has been obliterated. Everything else; the altar, the chairs, the people, smeared the walls in noticeable dark impressions.

The only unaffected place was the circular area around the man's laughing form; he didn't seem to notice that I've stopped his spell.

"YES, this is it! The power! It was more than I dream about-"

I dashed forward, thrusting the Fiery Lover's blade in the direction of his chest. His devil instinct must have flared because he raised his arms in a tremendously fast, but horribly sloppy guard. The rapier easily pierced through his arms in a burning passage, reaching about a centimeter into the skin of his chest when he flexed his muscles with enough strength to stop the attack.

"YOU-"

Then, I unleashed the flames.

He shot backward in a pillar of blue fire ten times hotter than it has been when it was absorbed. Once again, I wanted to curse the church's annoying effects; if we were outside, it would have been a pillar of plasma.

The burning man passed through the weakened wooden door to the outside. Luckily the church was in a relatively isolated location, so we won't attract unwanted attention. He crashed on the ground screaming, the flames seeming to have a mind of their own as they clung to his form.

I let out a breath of relief as I walked outside and felt the holy effects were lifted; the oppression was weak when I first arrived, but after staying inside, and worse fighting inside, it has accumulated into a considerable limitation. Luckily, I just got rid of it.

The man also isn't limited anymore. He demonstrated this by letting a blast of energy around him, breaking the magical effect of my sword.

"You, WHORE!" He acknowledged me for the first time since our fight started, it was nice finally being considered a threat. He was less burned then I thought; there was still has _some_ skin around the crispy parts. "Just how- HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!? And what is that sword!?"

Said sword quickly disappeared into its sheath, a different rapier with a black guard and purple blade took its place. Pointing it forward, I rushed into an assault.

"WH-" His instinct and incredible speed saved him again; the blade of the _Cruel Mistress_ only made a slight cut on his cheek. "YOU-" He threw himself to the left, my blade made a few more cuts on the side of his chest, his muscles prevented it from going too deep; they're unexpectedly tough for such a thin frame. "STOP!" A blast of raw demonic energy accompanied the shout. The erratic way the energy moved told me he tried to use a magical circle, and his failure told me the blade's curses was already acting. I twirled around him in a precise movement. _"GARH!"_ He let out a pained gasp as I adjusted my strength and pierced his right thigh from behind.

He blasted energy in all directions this time. I calmly activated my own magic shield and made it cone-shaped to let the energy wash around me. The movement gave him a less than a second's respite, which he used to try to create distance; his prodigious speed served him well there, but my own pace coupled with a lack of air resistance allowed me to easily keep up.

"HOW-" He tried to enter the offensive, it was almost trivial to dance around it. "I'm!" He twisted his waist, striking a powerful kick on my afterimage. I gave him new scars on his back for it. "Clearly!" Energy again, this time the circle showed up but quickly faded away due to the curses my blade was leaving on his skin, "Stronger!" His eyes were wide with anger, but the fading of yet another circle made a flash of fear appear. So, he was one of those devils who depended on circles. "Why!" Elias called that an addictive crutch once, he had no idea how right he was. "Am I not!" None of his attacks came close to hit me, most of mine were hitting him, save for a few he managed to parry due to instincts and speed. "WINNING!?"

Because having more demonic energy, speed and strength don't guarantee victory. Because he wasn't trained as a warrior and is clearly not accustomed to direct combat, or even combat at all. Because he let his vastly superior power get to his head and overestimated himself. Because he is panicking due to my relentless attacks. Because he's clearly not used to pain and is letting it cloud his mind. Because I'm a seasoned fighter and he's an amateur …

There were many answers to his questions, but he was an enemy so why should I answer him?

Yet, as he falls to his knees, burned, weak and littered with wounds, with his once mad and arrogant look replaced by confusion and fear, I couldn't keep the true reason inside.

"You're lacking," I responded, raising my rapier to end his life.

"…Hah."

My blade was passing through his right eye when the _enormous_ blast of energy was released from his body.

"Lacking- I'm LACKING HUH!? I'll SHOW YOU BITCH!" He screamed madly, rage-filled tears coming from his good eye, while blood came from the other one. The demonic energy around him erupted a deep purple pillar, rising to the sky. "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM WORM! I'M THE GREATEST SCIENTIST OF THE UNDERWORLD! THE CATALYST THAT WITH BRING A NEW ERA TO THE DEVIL RACE! THE FIRST TO CONQUER UNIMAGINABLE POWER! I WILL GIVE YOU A TASTE OF MY MIGHT!"

Great, really fucking great, I really sabotaged myself there. Look at me chit-chatting with a defeated enemy! Next time I might as well give him my sword and bare my neck!

Ah crap! Everyone in the city must be feeling this fucker now; he's like a beacon of Demonic energy.

At least Elias isn't here; he would never let me forget this fuck up.

I pulled _Fair Lady_ once again, entering a fighting stance. I must end him now before he becomes more troublesome.

His energy was washing over the entire area; it was definitely in the level of an enraged pillar devil. I could feel it trying to crush me, to overwhelm my mind and set my instincts to make me submit, flee, or give up. His directed anger only made the experience worse.

It was vast, it was dark, it was terrible, and yet…

It was nothing.

What is this anger before the primal, all-consuming rage of Lady Araneya when she goes berserk? What is this power before the brushes of world-shaking proportions that Elias lets out from time to time?

"You truly are lacking."

I tightened my grip on the handle, my own energy surging forward to form a greenish aura around my body, easily pushing back against his. The wind began circling around my blade, gaining speed in each second.

When we were about to move, the ground _shook._

I immediately recovered my balance, noticing a wide trench forming between us. I followed it with my eyes to the source, seeing the stone church crumbling in on itself.

Then, it exploded.

 **"KYOKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"**

A grotesque monstrosity erupted from the ground like a deformed worm, sending destroyed pieces of the church to the skies. I had seen it in the eyes of my familiars before, but seeing it with my own was a different experience. It was at least fifteen feet tall with a vaguely canine body, rows of disfigured limbs juggling from its sides, reaching to grasp and crush anything that approached it, it's face was that of a giant dog locked in a furious yet melancholic expression, with a row of human-like teeth forming a mockery of a smile. It was by far the most mutated stray I have ever seen.

Wide injures littered its entire form, the holy energy clinging around them making the flesh melt and burn, but its demonic energy – a dark red aura that its body was constantly emanating – was fighting against it with brutal effectiveness. The injuries that lose the holy aspect quickly close.

A group of black-uniformed individuals also came out, with the holy sword wielder leading the charge, I recognized them as the group of elite exorcists. They looked tired, battered and bruised, but I'm sure each of them was more than willing to continue the fight to their death if necessary; in my experience it's the only thing that can make them stop. A brief look with my familiars' eyes from underground showed that the surviving forces of the church were mobilizing to support the exorcists.

They were quite distant from us, and the fight was taking most of their attention; not seeing the risk of being noticed or getting involved in the mess in the immediate future, I gave back my full attention back to my enemy.

He was… fixated on the fight, his eyes getting larger and larger as it progressed.

"Wh…What? What is this?... What is this thing?" He asked in a quiet voice. I noticed that his energy has disappeared. "Why is this here?... H-has another one escaped!?"

I got a feeling he wasn't talking to me

No matter! I fixed my grip, preparing for-

"Nope, the security was pretty tight. This is the only subject that escaped."

...

…I drew a long, deep breath and let it out very slowly, making sure my expression looked calm and controlled during the process. Elias likes to sneak up on people, _especially_ if they were _in the middle of a tense situation._ It's just… what he does… so let it go, and for Satan's sake _don't give him the satisfaction!_

"Greetings, young master," I said to the gorgeous boy standing beside me, my whole self in the peak of professionalism. You'd need to know him very well to catch his disappointment, but it was there, and it was delicious. "When did you arrive?"

"Just now, I catch the end of the fight. You were pretty badass-"

"LIAR!" The man interrupted, he kept glancing from us to the monstrous stray devil. "The one that escaped is an undeniable success; he is a perfect reincarnated devil in every sense of the word, both mentally and physically! He is not-not THAT!" He pointed at the stray, which promptly let another roar.

"Yeah about that." Elias chirped happily, the tone was infectious as always. "Apparently, he shifts between mutated and non-mutated form depending of his emotional state, and going by what I heard; his mental state isn't what it used to be anymore. In summary, he's the stray devil version of the Hulk, only more grotesque looking... Pretty interesting stuff, these strays devils, I'll look up more about them later!"

My fight was clearly over by that point, and Elias apparently knows more about this situation than me, so I just dutifully raised my guard and step closer to my master, just in case.

"Wh-No, NO! He is my success!" The injured man was quickly becoming agitated. "SUCCESS, you hear me? He is not- That is not-"

"He is a stray." Elias said firmly, and anyone who knows him closely would notice the slight smugness in his tone. "The fact that he took longer to mutate doesn't change that. He may be stronger than the usual one, but he _is_ a _stray."_

The man kept looking at us for a long moment, his mouth opening and closing as he tried to form words, occasionally his eyes strayed to the monster, and then back at us. Suddenly, I saw his body language change, his breathing becoming a quick pant, his posture more aggressive. I took a step forward as a warning.

"No, it's impossible." He growled in a low tone, "You two! You two must be the reason he is like that! What did you do-" He tried to take a step forward, but his knee gives up halfway.

Good, I was beginning to worry.

Elias whistles as he calmly inspects the man's injuries. "That's a lot of curses. How many layers of curses did you manage to put on him?"

"All 666 of them," I informed, "He is a dead man walking." I could practically see the multiple curses snatching his strength.

"Damn it, DAMN IT!" Against all odds he managed to get back on his feet. He was panting and sweating, eyes wide and crazed as they passed over the distant stray once again. "I have… I got to…"

He paused, his entire expression twisting into a mad grim. "That's right haha. I just have to get back Hahaha. I'm almost there! I have… I have… I need… Lab, LAB, I must get back! There's still time!"

Seemingly forgetting we were there, he turned around and began wobbling away to the trees surrounding the area, mumbling and laughing the entire time.

"A broken man," I comment, raising my sword to his retreating back. The curses will likely kill him within the next few minutes, but it's foolish to let your enemies die in a place where you can't confirm it, when you can kill them yourself. "It will be a mercy."

"No." Under my master's command, I fell back into a guard . "I'll deal with him. He has something I want." Elias sent me a bright smiled; I struggle not to be dazzled. "You, on other hand, still have your mission."

"Certainly." I turned to the monstrous stray; the battle has become fiercer. The humans dealt a lot of damage, but they aren't able to make anything stick, and they are starting to get tired.

The tables are turning.

There was a crash near us, and the powerful energy of a new devil washed over the area.

"What the hell are you two doing here!?" The furious form of Cleria Belial rose from the crater. I narrowed my eyes at that; I had felt the devils approaching since my mad opponent flared up his energy, but she arrived a lot sooner than expected. "Elias and Belinda– _What the hell is that!?"_

"Hey, Cleria!" Greeted Elias good-naturedly, jabbing his thumb behind him, "That's a stray devil. The church is trying to kill him, I don't know what you will do about this, but we're just leaving, bye!"

"No-No-NO you aren't going anywhere!" She walked to us, her face twitching with stress and barely contained rage. All my instincts start streaming due to the proximity of a powerful and clearly emotional devil; it must have shown in my body language, because she directed a piercing glare at me, making my grip tremble for a second.

"I'm having a _hellish_ night, there is a shitload of things happening at the same time, and now I found you two wandering around while the church wages a war against that thing. No, sorry, I'll have to take you in for questioning, I apologize in advance for the insult, but this is _my_ city, and I take suspicious activities very…." She trails off, eyes fixating on something beyond us. I briefly turn to see the stray devil massacring the church forces — nothing unusual there, other than perhaps the level of strength of that thing.

"Oh, this will be good." I heard Elias practically giggle beside me.

Huh?

 _"MASAOMI!"_ Cleria blasted past us, frenetically flying toward the stray.

Only now I saw the long-haired exorcist being crushed under the monster's enormous paw. The pillar devil twisted in the air, using the momentum of her flight to land a brutal kick on the monster's wrist, making him let go.

She quickly snatched the man and flew him away from the danger, carrying him in her arms like a princess.

I blinked, slowly.

"Wait… Are they?" I watch her land at a distance and immediately start to fret over his injuries.

"Yep," Elias confirmed, but I barely heard him because my mind was fully focused on- _Are they kissing!?_ "Damn, looks like they're on their own little world, good for them."

… Now, I had a relatively short life for a devil, but I've been around for a few busy decades and saw a lot of things. This isn't the first time a devil and a church member pulled something like that, and I admit; there was something hot about sleeping with the enemy, be it a conservative yet beautiful nun just asking to be seduced or a hedonistic fallen eager to show the world the most delicious part of blasphemy. But a pure-blooded devil- worse a _pillar_ devil- who are suppose to uphold and represent he peak of devil society, with an _exorcist,_ literally the most hated enemies among the church's ranks!

"Is that…Is that even allowed?" I asked astonished.

"Nooope!" Elias sounded like he was having way too much fun. "But really; who are _we_ to judge?" It took a few seconds for me to catch on, but when I did; I felt my ears warming, and desperately held to my professional facade. "I must say; quite a bold move on their part, acting like that in front of the entire church force… and the devil one."

We both turned to watch the concentration of devils flying above, all looking appropriately shocked.

"Well then, I expect the fight to escalate after the confusion passes, the stray certainly isn't stopping anytime soon. I'd love to stay and watch, but I have an appointment." Elias turned to me. "You know your mission is still the same right?"

I raise my eyebrow. "Steal the stray or the remains of it on the first opportunity? Even now with the exorcist and devils all over the place?"

"Yes, is there a problem?"

An eager smile broke on my face "Not at all young master; this humble maid loves a challenge."

-0-0-0-

 **[Souichi Tomoe's pov]**

It hurts.

It hurts so fucking much — everything FUCKING Hurt.

With a frustrated growl, I forced my unresponsive legs to move, taking me deeper into the forest.

I was able to hear the battle happening behind before the fucking pain became my only focus. My vision started to blur into a tunnel of darkness, my lungs were on fire, and it felt like they would explode with each breath, my body was becoming more and more unresponsive, and my fucking legs weren't cooperating.

 _WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED BACK THERE!_

Who was that woman!? Why didn't I know about her presence before!? How could such powerful devil slip under my nose like that?

And those swords… So many Demon Swords in one person…

One of the usurpers' black ops agent, it has to be.

My knee sagged and hit the ground. I roared as the _pain_ traversed across my body.

And… And that… And that stray.

 _ **NO!**_

IT _COULDN'T_ BE!

A MISTAKE! A CONSPIRACY I TELL YOU!

"YES!" My chests burned, gurgling coughs drowned the words, but it didn't stop my laughter! "It's a conspiracy! HAHAhA! I knew it! They did something to my beautiful specimen! OHH those wretched bastards! I only need to reach my lab and get equipment, so I can- _GARH!"_

I look at the new puddle of blood that formed in from of me.

 _Damnit!_ That poison on that whore's sword is more potent than I thought, I couldn't leave it to my natural antibodies anymore.

I moved to grab my emergency bag, only to feel nothing on the remains of my belt. My eyes widen in realization.

Damn that woman- _DAMN IT!_

With a _scream_ of pain and anger, I pulled myself to my feet, my legs trembling beneath me.

Alright, first, get to the lab and have the succubus heal me, then grab my equipment and go to retrieve my specimen, _then_ I'll trap that whore and show her how painful science could be!

Her… No, them, there was another one… my vision was blurred at the time, but I managed to make out someone smaller, wait, I talked to them- no, I talked to the woman- what? I can't remember…

Whatever!

I have to get to the city, this forest is still church territory; it would be dangerous to be seen like this in-

Hard ground against my face, the taste of dirt on my mouth, smell of glass invading my nostrils, a line of ants marching before my eyes… did I fall?

DAMNIT! What is _wrong_ with me!? A _King Piece_ was powering my body; no poison in the world should be able to affect me like that!

I tried to curl my legs under me, but they only rasped against the ground, shooting needles of pain from the contact of dirt on my burned skin. I was more successful with my arms, which I manage to raise my upper body with.

"GAH!" I gasped as I turned my body around and fell with my chest up, the sensation of having my injured back hitting the earth knocked my breath out. I passed an arm over my eyes to clear up the tears that escaped. "Fucking… Usurpers' dogs… I only need to rest a while, yes, I need it so my body can recover, and I will show them… I will show them all!"

There was the sound of soft footsteps on the forest ground. Suddenly, a figure appeared over the moonlight.

"Still alive huh? Man, that thing must really be something if it empowered you enough to hold on for that long."

I squinted my eyes in an attempt to control the blur. The first thing I managed to make out was a contradiction; a child-size, elegant black slacks made from high-quality materials, beneath a horrendous gray sweater that wouldn't look out of place in a homeless human, the face above it all was blurred until the child crouched near me-

Flawless, that's the only thing that jumped on my mind when I look at his face, it was like a masterly crafted art piece has come to life, he draws the eyes just by existing and brings emotions to those who see him, the pain even became more bearable the more I looked at him.

"Wh-Who?"

His ruby eyes gleamed beautifully under the moonlight, "What? You don't remember me, we talked just now; the curses must be affecting your head."

His voice matched the perfection of his image, just hearing it was like an entrancing lullaby, the pain was completely overtaken by the musical tone.

Then, what he said finally registered.

"Wait, curses! _Guh!"_ I ignored my blood-filled cough in favor of inspecting the injuries in my arm, the closest I was able to see.

The veins around the injuries were black. At first, I imagined it was from some kind of poison that coated that hateful woman's blade, but looking closer, there were way too many black lines to be veins, and they were in the wrong anatomical position. Fighting against the blur, I finally realized that the black lines were, in fact, a series of glyphs, tightly packed together and growing in a continuously moving row. They were moving across my skin at a fast pace.

I gurgled a curse and tried to stand, but a hard stomp on my shoulder brought me back to the ground.

I _screamed_ as the pain came back in full force, making my thoughts turn to white.

"…n't bother, I doubt you'd able to do anything about it at this point." I heard the voice again; it brought no comfort this time. "Unless you're a badass devil of course, but, newsflash doc, you aren't."

Shit, Crap, CRAP, FUCKING CRAP; an enemy! Of fucking course, it's an enemy!

I wobbled my hand until I grabbed his leg, the amount of strength I exerted on my grip was pathetic even for me. I tried to move my energy to use magic, but the gigantic reserve didn't even move.

FUCK! WHAT TYPE OF CURSE IS THAT!? I had to know so I can… So I can…

There is nothing I can do.

"W-Wait." I gargled painfully; it took an enormous effort to even get the words out. "Let's talk about this. I…I have connections. I can give you-"

"Yeah yeah, spare me the chit-chat doc, you only have one thing I want."

A small, pale hand roved over my chest, one finger stretched in the air, and a bright magical pattern appeared.

T-That pattern, impossible! Only a few select devils know how to manifest this, and even fewer were able to decipher the knowledge to actually do it, _I_ was supposed to be the only devil in the human world right now with the ability.

The pattern rotated like a complicated lock, forming a circular shape in the middle, and from the glow, the _King Piece_ rose.

"No." I waved my arms forward, but my lack of strength made my movements imprecise. "No no no no no no no no! Please!"

The child pulled.

I could practically see the faint purple lines that connected it to my core being stretched to the maximum, and then snapped.

The world immediately became more distant, my arms fell to the ground, the pain retreated, and a deep _coldness_ started to creep into my bones. I noticed that I couldn't move in any way, shape or form, even my breathing and heartbeats became only faint impressions on the background.

 _"Well, that's interesting, without piece backing you up, the curses could fully take effect. How does it feel?"_

There was something in the distance, a mumbling of some kind, I couldn't make out what it meant, but it was the only thing that held consistency as the world around me started to break down.

 _"Now then, let's see… alright, I admit; it's awesome… scratch that; it's really fucking awesome… H-Holy crap! How the hell does this even work!?"_

Darkness began to consume my vision; I didn't understand what was happening… Wait, how did I get here? …What was I doing? …I-I can't make sense of things.

 _"Oh boy, I'm going to science you up so much… Thank doc! This thing will be a game-changer to my research. I can already imagine… Anyway, bye! And good luck with the whole dying thing."_

It's dark, so, so dark, I can't feel anything but coldness so deep it was breaking my whole concept on cold. I can't move, I'm sinking, but I can't move. H-Help! Please!

I'm scared.

* * *

*note: Proelium Servus, is the pretension way of saying Battle Maids, it's feel quite weird to have the word 'Battle Maid' being uttered by a stuck up devil, so I create another name for it.


	18. Interlude 3

Betas: This chapter was beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back at QQ forum.

Interlude 3.0

* * *

The construction crew was working supernaturally fast, and none of them had even realized it.

Cement was drying in record speed, forming sturdy and imposing walls. Saws sliced through wood, always cutting in the exact measurements needed for the building. Men were working like machines with their limbs and heart pumping in a cycle of tireless motion, like putting this project together was somehow invigorating them, some even forgot their break and only stopped when their coworker called for them.

In the distance, a group of kind-hearted nuns had set aside their time to make refreshment for honest and hard-working men rebuilding their church. They're sending them prayers and blessings in the meanwhile.

In the woods surrounding the place, hidden from any normal mean of observation, four figures spied.

"Hah! Say what you will about these fanatics, but they move pretty fast." Commented a man wearing a trench coat and fedora hat sitting in one of the tree's thick branches.

"They have to." Said a curvaceous woman standing on his side, her light blue hair blowing in the wind. "The cease-fire happened because none of the factions were in any condition to continue the fight, but that doesn't mean the aggression ceased. Right now, they're trying to establish themselves. The church lost its headquarters, and the devil lost their manpower; the first one that gets to-"

"Yes, Yes. I'm sure your little exile has made you a specialist on this dump of a town, Kalawarner." The blue-haired fallen nearly groaned when she heard the _insufferable_ tone. "But _my beloved_ sent us on a mission, an actual one, rather than the little compensation you got after decades of whining."

Once again, Kalawaner had to bite her tongue and use her entire willpower to not fly at that woman's throat, for how long has this been going on again? Since the bitch arrived in the city? Since the first message she got about reinforcements? Since the rumors about the bitch began circulating?

And she kept belittling and disrespecting Kalawaner in every chance she got, making sure to rub the fact that she now fills the hole that Kalawaner used to occupy in the woman's face, never mind the only reason they have that mission right now was because of Kalawaner's months of effort uncovering this city's secrets. The older fallen didn't know how long she could hold herself before she causes a scene.

"And speaking about the mission, Raynare." The last figure; a woman that had the appearance of a young girl, intervened before things could escalate. "How are we gonna do this? They're pretty jumpy right now, I'm sure whatever hell we raise is going to be blamed on the other side, but there is always a paranoid one who can see through things, especially now that their guards are up all the way to their asses."

"It would be foolish to act against the church today." Kalawaner added, "Tomorrow, the holy sword weirder will travel to the Vatican for the trial of one of his men. Their strength will be severely depleted then."

"We could wait…" The only man suggested neutrally, trying to focus on other things than the female feud; this type of shit never ends well in his experience, especially among his kind. "The higher-ups informed us that there are signs of a Yokai Night forming in Kyoto. The timing is just too right for their target to be anywhere but here."

That brought the women's attention.

"Wait, a Yokai Night!? Those aberrations are coming here!?" Exclaimed Kalawaner. Who, after months living in Kuoh, still couldn't fathom why everybody seems to be obsessed with this far off place.

"Hahaha, it makes sense!" The blond-haired girl laughed. "That fox's obsessed with reclaiming every bit of their motherland they can. If they see a weakness in the factions, they're sure to attack."

"An army of youkai, huh…" Raynare mumbled, hounding her chin. "That way we can weaken both sides without much effort, or attention." She snapped at the man of the group. "Why did you keep this information hidden all this time, Dohnaseek!?"

"Hey, I didn't hide anything." Dohnaseek raised his hands in a pacifying matter. "The report came early today. You're the one who didn't check the-"

"Silence!" Raynare shouted dismissively, her mind still somewhere else. "Yes, I can see it. It's perfect!" She raised her eyes to the half-finished church once again. "But still there is one part of the mission we need to fulfill."

"Most of the church forces are spread around their territory, right now almost everyone there are normal humans." Dohnaseek huffed. "If we're going to do that, we need to do it now. They might move it when the yokai arrive."

Kalawaner, who was processing the information, finally reacted.

"Wait, what do you mean 'one part of the mission'? What part of the mission? Are you hiding something from me!?" She asked, raising her voice.

"Kalawaner, dear…" Raynare's voice was dripping with sweetness, a smug smile formed on her lips. "Shut up." She said firmly, throwing a lock of hair around her shoulder and waving her hand in a dismissing matter. "Your services aren't necessary anymore. Why don't you go do something useful like scouting around the devil side of the city or something? You can leave now."

"Wh-" Kalawarne's mouth drop open, she couldn't believe the level of insolence this… this _toddler_ was showing her. "Now, listen here you-"

"No! You listen here, _Used Goods!_ " Raynare was suddenly on her face, with her eyes gleaming in a cruel light and her nose held high. "Lord Azazel, _my lover_ , has _personally_ given me a _critical_ mission for the prosperity of our kind. Do you know what this means, _hag!?_ It means _I_ have absolute authority over any and all fallen that gets in my way, for my word is Lord Azazel's word, my wishes are Lord Azazel's wishes! And right now, he wishes for you to _leave_ , and stop getting in the way of my mission!"

… Rage. That was the name of what Kalawaner was feeling. Deep, burning rage, that made her entire body tremble. There was some indignation there, and more than a few frustrations, but it was mostly rage.

She considered things very carefully; anything that starts here will attract the attention of the church. And having the other factions know of the Fallen's presence in Kuoh would be disastrous. She also didn't know if she could take the girl… Even being _infinitely_ older than her, she was very aware of her own… limitations. The others were also a problem; she was fairly sure Mittelt would take her side if things come to it, but she wasn't sure how Dohnaseek would act, and she knew that she could never win against him.

There is also Raynare's new… status, Kalawaner was keenly aware of how protective Lord Azazel could be with his lovers, if anything happens to her, he'd surely act.

"I… I understand." The words made Kalawaner sick.

"I understand…" Raynare repeated slowly, eyes glittering in victory.

"I understand, ma'am." Kalawaner wanted to die right there.

"Good." Raynare nodded, her tone dripping in smugness. "Now fly away little bird, you're not wanted there."

Kalawaner didn't need any more incentive; she was flying away a second later.

She made sure to fly really, really high; before descending into screams of frustrations.

"THAT SMUG BITCH!" Her words finally gained coherence after minutes of incomprehensible ranting. "WHO THE FUCK SHE THINK SHE IS!? THAT-THAT NEW GENERATION PUNK! I BET SHE'S NOT EVEN A HUNDRED. ACTING ALL HIGH AND MIGHTY BECAUSE SHE GOT BLACK WINGS. WELL, TOUGH SHIT BITCH! I HAD BLACK WINGS WHEN THAT _MEANT_ SOMETHING!"

Whoever said screaming your frustrations away was lying, when Kalawaner finished, and she went limp in the air save for her wings, which kept working to keep her afloat.

She still wanted to kill someone.

"Well, that was something!"

"WHAT!" The blue-haired fallen screamed to the smaller blonde one that had followed her.

"Hey, I ain't the Raynare girl. Calm your tits." Mittelt huffed, putting her hands on her thin waist. "I convinced them to let me back you up; my aspects aren't good for infiltration anyway; I'd only slow them down." The small blonde flew closer to the blue-haired bombshell. "So how do you like the new girl?"

"She is so, ARGHHHHHHH!" Kalawarner put her most sincere feeling in the groan.

Mittelt chuckled "Yeah, me too. She is Zariel's brat if you care to know."

"That explains _so much!"_ Kalawaner twisted herself in the air until she was at eye level with Mittelt. "Did you hear the way she talked to me!? It's like she thinks she's top dog just because she's sucking Lord Azazel dick! That's so GARH!"

"Oh, the sweet irony…"

"And the way she's dressed!? Seriously, who goes to battle in bondage gear. A fucking _bondage gear!?_ And do _not_ talk about Lord Baraqiel; he _earned it_." The curvaceous fallen huffed, "She is so… so detestable!"

"Yeah, she is way above her head alright," Mittelt commented, seeing her friend panting to a stop. "Get it out of your system?"

Kalawaner drew a long breath and exhaled everything that was chewing her inside, one may not realize when they see her, but she's able to relax and calm herself pretty quickly; it was related to her aspects. "Yeah… I'm good."

Mittelt smiled and bumped her elbow on the woman's rib. "Still, I'm proud of you. The old Kalawaner would have strangled the girl on the first remark." 'Or, more likely, break down crying.', she left unsaid, "Good to see you finally got over the player."

"Don't call him a player Mittelt; he is the Governor General of the fallen angels." Kalawaner replied almost automatically.

"So? He is also a player. I call him that to his face when he comes to my quarters to scratch his loli itch."

"Wh-Wait what! You slept with him!?"

The blonde sent the blue-haired a pitying glance. "Oh honey, every female fallen must have slept with him at least once. Still baffles me how his rotational harem can be so blind about it."

"I-" Kalawaner desperately tried to come up with something to disprove the claim but thinking back, it all fit too well. "Oh, dear father…" She groaned, her fingers going to her temples. She used to be one of the blind girls in his harem, didn't she?

Mittelt's face and suspicious look appeared on her vision. "You _are_ over him, right?"

"Yes." The answer came immediately, so fast that Kalawaner didn't even realize she had said it. "I am over him." She finished with a bit of surprise in her tone. She didn't even notice she had.

No longer the thought of Lord Azazel brought terrible pain to her chest. No longer mental images of him with another in his arms filled her eyes with tears. He just… didn't seem so appealing anymore. Looking back now, he looked a little too old for her tastes, and it was a little annoying having to rise to the tip of her feet to kiss him; he could afford to be a little bit shorter. Also, his hair was distractingly weird, it'd be better if it were in a single color, like white, or whitish grey, and his eyes, they were so… monotonous; he would look better with a more striking shade, like red… definitely red.

Yes, short, white hair, red eyes… Hum~.

"Ooooi Kalawaner," Mittelt waved her hand over the unresponsive woman's eyes. "Are you there?"

"Y-Yes, sorry." She shook her head and looked at her shorter friend. "He wasn't that good anyway."

"HAH!" Mittelt twirled in the air with the laugh. "To think I'd live to see the day you said that." She shook the rest of the laughter and turned to the direction of the city. "Let's just go already. We have to see what the hell-spawns are up to."

Kalawaner nodded and began to fly after the blonde fallen. After a few minutes, something crossed her mind.

"Hey Mittelt, what was the other part of the mission?" Surely it didn't hurt to try right? She and Mittelt were friends since the literal beginning of time.

"Oh, we have to steal some holy artifact thingy; some giant ass, golden cross, very cliche. I think the player wants to use it in his Sacred Gear research."

-0-0-0-

The winds of the cemetery carried a pleasant voice; it resonated throughout the place.

The tone of the voice was solemn, almost melancholy, but the words were uttered in a precise and clean manner. Anyone walking near to the source would surely stop for a few minutes and listen, be it for the exotic appeal of a foreign tongue, or the respectful way it was spoken.

 _In your hands, O Lord,_

 _We humbly entrust our brothers and sisters._

 _In this life you embraced them with your tender love;_

 _Deliver them now from every evil and bid them eternal rest._

 _The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise,_

 _Where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain,_

 _But fullness of peace and joy_

 _With your Son and the Holy Spirit, forever and ever._

 _Amen._

Yaegaki Masaomi stood from the place he was kneeling and gazed at the grave of his two fallen comrades.

He has been on this cemetery since the early hours of the morning, paying his respects to each and every one of the brave warriors who fell in that fateful night a little more than a week ago.

He asked forgiveness from the heaven for treating these last two a little more special.

They were eight once, eight bright young men taken under the wing of the wielder of Fidelacchius, one of the best swordsmen in the history of their holy order, eight men who treat each other like brothers, and were preparing to take the life-threatening test to see if they're worthy of wielding a holy sword of their own.

Now, they were six.

"Yosuke-san, Castro-san. Thank you for your service." He said, bowing deeply. The last part was the one that brought most pain. "And… I'm sorry for the dishonor I brought upon us."

He was sorry… but he did not regret it, and that made it worse. He knew what he did was wrong, he knew it was against everything he was taught, but he didn't regret it, he had tried… but he can never have regrets about that, never about that.

Masaomi didn't know for how long he stayed there, but when he finally moved, the last bit of sunlight had already gone from the horizon, and the cool night air had fallen over the city.

He pushed his jacket close and shivered from the cold weather. He hadn't imagined he would be there until nighttime, so his clothes offered fewer protection than usual; he reckoned he had no one to blame but himself.

That was a feeling he's becoming intimately familiar with, lately.

He immediately regretted taking so long, after seeing the figure waiting for him on the top of the hill, under the light of one of the cemetery's post.

Masaomi waved his hand in an awkward greeting. Awkward, perfect word to describe their interactions in recent times.

"He-Hello Shidou-san… Hum." The young man bit his lips, looking for something to say. "…I didn't know you smoked."

The exorcist leaned on the post with his eyes close slowly pulled the cigarette from his lips and let out a long puff of smoke.

"… I had stopped just after Irina was born, years of nagging from my wife finally got to me." He said eventually, opening his eyes. "And I figured my life wasn't so expendable anymore… But recent events made me relapse."

"Hahaha." Masaomi laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head with one hand.

An uncomfortable silence stretched between the men, neither of them knew what to do next.

Eventually, the younger man moved.

"T-then, I'd better be going." He said gesturing to the exit, "Long way to Italy after all, I have to get my baggage ready."

"Masaomi-kun." The older man called quietly, making his apprentice pause. "Do you love it-" He choked and took a deep breath, before trying again. "Do you love… her?"

The longhaired exorcist closed his eyes. He was one of the few who knew of Shidou's history with the devils; what they did to his wife… was unforgivable, he once shared the story in a moment of weakness, and that she still woke up screaming sometimes… he completely understood his hatred of them, that's why he appreciated the effort… and why it hurts so much to betray his trust.

But…

"I do, Shidou-san, I truly do." He said evenly, both loving the relief he felt for finally saying out loud, and hating the impact it's likely caused in his master.

"Jesus Christ, boy!" Despite everything, Masaomi wanted to laugh. How long has been since he's been called that? "Do you know what they will do to you if you go babbling something like that in the Vatican!"

"I can't help it, Shidou-san. You know what I think of lies."

Shidou angrily waved his cigarette at the younger man. "Except when it comes to the important stuff!" He shouted, "You know, like 'I'm doing profane things with the enemy when nobody is looking, I thought you should know'!"

"Well… you never asked." The young man said slowly, like it was a perfectly logical explanation.

The silence stretched once again, this time, it felt a little lighter.

Then, one of the men chuckled, which was mirrored by the other, and everything escalated until they were both laughing their asses off.

 _"Thank god!"_ Masaomi thought, _"Things are not ok, but maybe, just maybe…"_

Shidou coughed out the last of his laughter, raising his eyes to his apprentice. "Look boy, you're in trouble."

"I know."

"No, you don't." The older exorcist shook his head. "This isn't something you get a slap in the wrist from. You slept with a devil; that's well up there in the list of forbidden interactions, you'll be lucky to be excommunicated… maybe they even…"

"They will not execute me, Shidou-san." Masaomi said with full of conviction, "Perhaps I'll have to pass through a re-education course… Definitely a purification one." He shivered at the thought. "But I won't die."

Shidou drew another inch of his cigarette and locked his eyes with his apprentice's "How do you know?"

"I have faith." Masaomi smiled, "Besides, I have a perfect record, and I am one of the few candidates to wield a holy sword. I don't think they'll get rid of me this easily."

Shidou blew another trail of smoke, his ears quickly catching his apprentice's hidden meaning.

"Also... For her, right."

Masaomi closed his eyes.

"… My life isn't so expendable anymore." He paraphrased it. His mind working on his next words very carefully; he fantasized about this moment for so long, about the time he would tell the man he considered his father about the love of his life.

"She is… She is good, Shidou-san." Masaomi tried to do the impossible task of putting Cleria Belial into words. "She is kind, virtuous, honorable, she cares about the city, and the men under her. She… she has a good heart, Shidou-san."

"Masaomi…" Shidou said with a complicated look in his eyes, "She is a devil."

"I know but… I have faith in my lord, and his almighty mercy. I… I can save her. I can save her soul!" He raised his head, any traces of doubt he could possibly have were gone from his eyes; he can do this. Now, if only he could convey that to his master.

Shidou met his eyes with a clear look of his own; he also had no more doubts.

"Is that your answer, Masaomi?" He asks calmly.

"Hai!" Masaomi smiled, falling to his first language briefly. "Please master, have faith in me!"

Shidou closed his eyes and threw the remains of the cigarette to the side.

It was a soft step, barely audible, just a brush of the sole of a leather boot on the stone floor.

"Guh!" Masaomi blinked as he gasped, soon after, he felt something warm dripping down his chin.

He dropped his eyes to the blade poking from the side of his ribs.

Slowly, as the horrifying feeling grew, he turned his head to the side.

"Antonio?" He whispered roughly, seeing the face of his fellow apprentice.

The Brazilian man glared at him with righteous hatred in his eyes.

"In the name of Christ!"

Before Masaomi could process this, another sensation appeared on his other side, this time his chest started to grow hot.

"In the name of Christ!"

He recognized Akira's voice, another one of his fellows-

The next blade passed lower, this time the pain caught up with his torso.

"In the name of Christ!"

He barely heard it through gritted teeth and a sharp pain; adrenaline began to pour into his bloodstream, it made his thoughts clearer-

"In the name of Christ!"

His world tumbled, and he realized he was on the ground. His sore knees ached against the stone; how many times had he knelt today?

His mind began to act to find an escape. His body began to react-

"In the name of Christ!"

A longer blade pierced through his shoulder from behind, the tip embedded into the floor. Masaomi felt his blood pouring from his body, along with the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. It took him a few moments to realize this was the weight of his beloved friends… and their sharp blades.

He spat out a glob of blood, trying to control his painful breaths, from the wheezing sounds and piercing pain, he noticed that he was quickly losing the feeling on his limbs. His eyes widened as the full scope of his predicament began to dawn on him.

A pair of fine leather boot appeared on his vision. He blinked, and painfully raised his head, trailing the mountainous form of Shidou Touji.

"The Vatican convoy will arrive in the morning… They will be pleased by this development; less energy wasted this way. We must all do our part to facilitate God's work." Dark hazel eyes fell upon him; they almost seem to increase gravity a hundredfold, he didn't even recognize the man before him. "Do you have any last words, Judas?"

He couldn't believe what was happening; his mind began to conjure images of his life, images of a better past, perhaps in a way to stave off the despair of betrayal, or to keep the endless cold away from his bones for a few more seconds.

He saw himself and Cleria fighting against each other, he saw her saving him from a stray devil, which led them to have a proper conversation, and eventually fall in love. Once more he experienced those wonderful times under the cloak of secrecy, and the many whispers they shared in the dark.

He saw himself training with his friends, saw their many nighttime escapades that always end up with their master chasing them through the city, he saw the promises they made and the family they formed, the future seems bright and happy.

He saw his master rescuing him from the streets, saw him feed him, clothe him, and taught him; his many lessons imbuing him with reason and purpose; shaping him to be the man he is today.

Among these lessons, one stood up the most, something that an exorcist must always adhere to, no matter the cost.

He believed in that with all his soul.

"I- _GUH!"_ Blood streamed down his chin, around him, there was only cold and darkness. "…I… deserve… a fair judgment…"

"A fair judgment." Shidou quietly intoned, raising an unnamed sword, for he was not worthy of Fidelacchius. _"Men,_ are judged…"

 _"Sinners are put down."_

The blade fell.

-0-0-0-

"Ah….Ah…Ahhhah…"

The body fell forward, the last remaining locks of hair that were still attached to its scalp move with it, glued on the shredded face due to the blood. The body was in a deplorable condition, with most of its skin missing, chains and nails embedded on the exposed nerves, and barbed wires binding its limbs to the uncomfortable metal chair. A worrisome amount of blood littered the area under it.

It was a woman once, a mother even. She used to be human sometime in her life, but God has blessed her with something to stand above the rest of her peers, something that had attracted the attention of God's enemies. It led to her capture, and transformation into a devil.

Perhaps, she would've been satisfied with her life if she ended up in the hands of a humane devil, maybe she would've come to enjoy the power she achieve, and build a life for herself in the depths of the Underworld, but she didn't end up with a humane devil; she ended up with one that believe her kind was a mockery of their race, and should only be used as tools, toys and slaves, for the thought of having the same rights of such weak creatures disgusted them so much that they reject the way their society was evolving, and try to build a new one on the core value of the true Satans.

The woman wasn't proud of what she did to survive over the years, but she did survive, and nothing else matters. She _had_ to endure, had to live for her beloved children, hell, even her good for nothing husband, a person that had hurt her many time in the past, still has a place in her big heart. As long as she had a glimpse of hope of seeing them again; It was all worth it.

…In some ways, she always knew she would end up in a situation like this, the moment she had been given as the pawn of the self-proclaimed 'Greatest Scientist of the Underworld', the moment she heard his first rant about his plans… She knew she'd be tortured for what she knows.

The last coherent thoughts of the woman once named Kyoko, was a deep cry of regret and resignation. After that, her mind was reduced to a whirlpool of madness and pain, with only the most distinctive thoughts emerging at the surface.

"K-Ing… P-PiEce…" She gurgled. "TrUe… SAtaNs… ho- hOney… rAtinG… Do-dOn't… gAmEs… LOve…"

A series of words continued to sprout from her mouth.

The torturer put back his equipment on the side table, his early mad and giggly behavior entire gone, a sophisticated and professional one was taken its place; it crashed heavily with the leather fetish gear he was wearing.

"There is nothing more to extract, my King. She told us everything she knew." He calmly reported to the woman sitting across the room, who has watched the entire progress from beginning to end.

To be honest, through all his years serving his King, this must be the most troublesome piece of information they had ever managed to extract. It was affecting his composure a little.

He tried to keep his feeling from his expression.

Cleria Belial didn't take her eyes from the tortured Old Satan Faction operative. She rose from her chair, and carefully made her way to the broken woman.

"Mister Crane." She called the torturer, still watching the woman. "Who else knows of this information?"

"…Well." Solomon Crane's first instinct was to make a morbid joke, but he knew his king's moods very well, and she is not in the mood for jokes. She hasn't been ever since their Bishop died… for the first time, Solomon found himself wishing for the presence of that pesky little exorcist, to finally calm his King's nerves. "My facility is completely soundproof, and my Sacred Gear would have warned me if anyone else has entered the perimeter. So only me, you and the Elf."

Solomon sent a respectable nod to his peerage brother, who was acting as the King's bodyguard for today. Guilherme Verde returned the gesture, his expression still locked in a mask of seriousness. It was like the information didn't affect him; he was too focused on his duty.

Solomon could only admire his professionalism.

"Good." Cleria uttered, and with a flick of her finger, she sent a sharp wave of wind that severed the woman's neck. The next flick set the body on fire. "None of what's been said here must reach outside, do you understand? If this information falls into the wrong hands…"

"Of course my King!" Solomon declared immediately. He heard Guilherme saying something similar at a distance.

Cleria turned to her Rook; her eyes were grim but determinate. "I'll have to go back to the Underworld; the Satans must know about this, and no messenger would be trusted enough, so…" She trailed off, already regretting the weight she will have to put over her peerage's shoulders.

Her Rook understood immediately.

"Miss Camilla, our dear queen, will be in charge until your return." Solomon nodded. "Are you sure you don't want to tell her yourself?"

"There is no time to waste." Cleria shook her head. "Just tell her… Tell her I'm sorry to leave her in such trying times."

"Ah." Solomon placed his hand over his heart. "Go without worry, my king. The devils held against the yokais before, and we will do so again for as long as necessary. We will not fall."

"I know you won't… But I wanted to be here to punish that insolent race for their hubris."

"Rest assured, my king, that we'll do our best to match your enthusiasm."

Cleria nods, a small smile making its way on her face. Then, she turned and made her way to the exit.

"…You're coming with me." She said to her prized elf as they walked through the corridors. "You heard what that pawn said; another witness would make the information more believable. Plus…" Cleria allowed a brief moment of weakness to pass through her defenses. "I'd like some company. The last few days has been… trying."

"Very well, my king," Guilherme said, a little colder than usual.

Cleria didn't blame him, to learn about something like that, and right after Mei's death too, he must be shaken, Satans know that she is.

All of this; this King piece thing and the Old Satans' faction conspiracy to control the rating games… She wondered who else heard about this, who else is involved; the Top 10 competitors? Their sponsors?... Her beloved cousin?

Cleria shook these thoughts away. She must get this information to the Satans before anything else, and she must do it quickly; her city needed her.

She didn't wait for Guilherme to open the door for her, doing it herself and walking to the late afternoon skies with firm steps.

Then, she stops.

Cleria narrowed her eyes and took in the figures surrounding her, "What is the meaning of this?" She asked, loud and clear.

On her side, she felt Guilherme approaching and bracing himself. Good, she will have back up in case she needs it… or a witness to prove her innocence in case things turn sour.

A tall devil stepped forward, Cleria remembers seeing him in one of the countless balls she attended; the heir of some extra family, vassal of a branch of the Zepar; the nobility equivalent of background trash.

His uniform gave him more importance than his bloodline.

"What does the GOETIA wants with me?" She projected her voice, making a point to ignore the man in front of her while inspecting the uniforms of the other member of the Satan's secret police force.

All of them had a purple piece of cloth on their shoulders, showing that they're of the Asmodeus' branch. Cleria found that odd, she had expected at least some of them to be from the Leviathan's due to their presence in the human world, but she pushed that thought aside for now.

If the man was insulted, he didn't show. "Lady Belial, we're going to ask for you to come peacefully."

"How _nice_ of you." She sneered. "Why do you ask?"

Cleria felt her _wrath_ rising inside… What a convenient timing, really _fucking_ convenient. Just after she found out about one of the biggest holds the Old Satan Faction has on the underworld; what are the odds?

She saw a bead of sweat trailing down the man's forehead. Oh my! Is her poor mood showing? How embarrassing...

"You are wanted for questioning." The man said eventually. "For your relationship with the exorcist."

"That's very curious indeed!" Cleria chirped without missing a beat. " Tell me, good sir. Since when…" Cleria started to lower her tone "Does a member of the _Pillars."_ A small earthquake began to surge under her feet. Her energy started to cover the area. "Needs to answer for her actions?"

"… We will ask again, for you to come peacefully."

Cleria smiled; the sight would terrify a lesser devil.

"Oh, I will show you how _peaceful_ I can be."

... Before she could do anything; she felt the dagger. Her nerves flared, and her thoughts turned white. She was keenly aware of the blade piercing her back.

The disbelief was so great she didn't even felt pain.

Cleria looked back and met the cold eyes of Guilherme Verde.

"I am not an animal to be hunted. _Bitch!"_

These were the last word uttered by his mouth before a wave of raw demonic energy evaporated half of his body.

"YOU!" Cleria turned her furious eyes to the rest. "I'LL KILL ALL OF YOU!"

She leaped to the first one, the extra family devil lasted for a few seconds, but it was enough to leave an opening for his companions.

What followed was a brutal war against a single opponent.

Cleria became aware that her movements were slower than normal; that her energy didn't seem to flare up so brightly, that her vision started to double.

She began missing her attacks, and the one aiming toward her started to hit more; blood and wounds began to fill her body.

Eventually, she noticed the bolts of magic traversing through her nervous system, and then she realized that the blade on her back was a demon sword.

"Damn it!" She screamed, trying to reach the dagger, but her opponents didn't give her the chance.

She needed a mirror, anything with a reflective surfaced on it; if she can see the blade, she can nullify its effects.

Six devils danced around her in superb teamwork, all of them wielding melee weapons of different types. From the rooftops, archers put arrows through each opening of her guard, the numbing effect of the wounds showed that they're coated in a powerful tranquilizer. Further on the back, a group of magic specialists was casting precise spells with wild abandon, she was nullifying them at first, but soon she was forced to prioritize the ones that would be more troublesome to deal with. She just saw two healers; they are doing their best to put the ones she didn't kill back to the fight.

After two and a half minutes of intense fight, Cleria noticed that Solomon didn't come out to see what the commotion was. The outcome was obvious for her then.

"FINE!" She screamed, blasting the fuckers close to her with an explosion. "You bastards want me?! THEN COME AND GET IT!"

The bleeding form of Cleria Belial leapt back into the fray.

Bloody carnage continued on throughout the night.

* * *

A/Note: Before anyone ask Cleria and Masaomi's history is canon, those who read the light novel saw that coming. And no, they weren't executed because they were fucking (well Masaomi was, the church don't play around with that stuff) more detail about Cleria in the next chapter.


	19. Chapter 15

Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back at QQ forum

Chapter 15

* * *

Her gurgling breaths echoed across the metal mask that covered her head, and painfully locked the movements of her jaw. Her bloodshot eyes dashed from side to side, doing their best to see the world from the narrow holes on the metal.

It was impossible to see much, but she could easily imagine what it's like; a long hall made from stone, supported by thick pillars with depictions of ancient battles carved on their surface, furnitures of sturdy wood and fine ropes, and curtains as a marvelous but straightforward decoration. Behind her, she could hear the whispered conversations of the masses of impeccably dressed Devils. They insulted and sneered her image, all undoubtedly feeling a sense of sick superiority to see her weak and bound like this; a feeling that only a crowd of highly trained sheep could achieve.

Traitors, all of them, bloody traitors!

She trashed against her restraints once again, ignoring the way her body flared in pain as poorly treated wounds brushed against cold metal and elastic fiber, the feeling of her broken bones grinding against each other due to the uncomfortable way her limbs were twisted was a particularly notable source of pain.

It didn't matter; she trashed once again; coughing blood on the metal choker inside her month. The pain didn't matter, her injuries didn't matter, all it matters was her fight, her way of showing she didn't care for their opinions, their slanders, their words.

She knew her chances of escape were almost none, but it wasn't about that, it was about the _defiance._

But her body was still made of flesh and blood, and still needed periods of rest, even if these periods were pauses between burst of extreme violence, where they simply refused to obey her any longer, until a new wave of fury and indignation gave her new energy.

She was keenly aware of her surroundings during these periods; it was like the ever-present pain takes a step back exclusively to let her focus. Her perception was increased to an uncanny degree, and she could see the world like she'd never seen before; all looked clear and simple beyond the narrow holes. She could see, think, and _memorize_ much better.

Once more, she forced her neck up, using the awareness of the pause to watch the devils sitting on the high dais above her, she made sure to watch every detail of their faces; every minor movement, every glint that passes through their eyes, she made sure to see, she made sure to remember.

She could also hear their words, but she didn't bother memorizing them; their words are meaningless, a theater of false accusations, a mockery disguised as a trial, nothing more than rhetorical masturbation as they stroked their own egos to their own enjoyment and that of their mindless herd.

"This is not the first, or will be the last time, that a high-class devil will elope with a church-affiliated human." The slim figure of Hildebrand Stolas, the younger brother of the head of the Stolas family, spoke. His ever-present smile still pasted on his mug. She remembered thinking his smile looked very attractive once, how foolish she had been then. _"_ _And how could we not!?_ What better way to insult that prudish and pompous organization than seduce and corrupt their oh so holy operatives? To show them how hollow and insignificant their vows of celibacy truly are, by snatching the heart and soul of men and women who dedicate their lives to the worship of the hateful enemy and his heavenly scum and make them our playthings for us to do what we see fit. _No!"_ He wavered his hand dramatically, "What lady Belial did is not, and it never will be, against our code of conduct… However." He looked to his side, here another man picks off.

The purple-haired man finished cleaning his glasses and put it back on his long face. She recognized him from the circle of lovers of the Sallos' heiress, Baradok something… his last name was not important enough for her to bother remembering.

"Given the recent events that transpired over Kuoh town within this past week," He raises a document in the air to show to the room. "And the reports which were given to us by people of confidence." She growled against the choker; she can imagine who these people are. "There is reason to believe that instead of Lady Belial seducing the exorcist Yaegaki Masaomi with the intention of adding him to her peerage…the _contrary_ is true."

Loud gasps ripped across the room. She rolled her eyes at the drama; this was so staged it was painful.

"Kuoh town is a devil town, no matter what anyone says about it." A tall and muscular man grunted on the other side of the table, she knew him from the stories her cousin told her; Zacharias Beliwitch, head of the most trusted branch family of the Berith Family. He raised his thick arm and dropped it on the table, causing a loud crash. "If that is the case, can someone explain to me how the fuck a puny little church with a meager number of operatives, managed to turn the tables against a fully entrenched devil presence?" He snapped a finger in her direction, "Treason, I tell you! This woman is a betrayer of her kind!"

The sounds come back, much louder than before.

A 'betrayer of her kind'… Oh the sweet irony, to be accused of that by the ones that are working to undermine the foundations of their society, to reverse any progress they have managed to achieve, to destroy any goodwill they managed to gather. And to top it all off, they want to establish those useless waste of space as the leaders of the Underworld, as if they haven't fucked things up enough the last time they tried.

Delusional, simply delusional the lot of them.

Another man sighed, "We were getting to that…" He grumbled, then stood up and tried to speak above the riffraff. "The reports clearly state a loss of more than half of the devils operating in Kuoh, with numbers reaching close to four thousand deaths."

She bit the choker and stopped trying to recognize the man to quietly rage inside her mind. She kept track of every single devil working, visiting or passing through her city; the numbers had _never_ gone above two thousand during her time there. She felt even more insulted for their blatant attempts to mix her hard-working and honest devils with those _filthy traitors_ that were hiding within her city.

"Along with severe property damage caused to our structures and the human ones. Damage that, as of right now, necessitates the combined effort of two divisions of Lady Leviathan's agency to cover up. The emergency operation reduced the efforts on the main objective of the agency in the country, and may have caused frictions on our peace talks with the Yōkai tribes of the west, which includes the highly secretive Nekoshou, the greatly militarized Tengu, and the Tanuki clans from the western coast." He tried to hide his smile when he talked about the difficulty Lady Leviathan was facing right now; his smile sent a way of outrage to her core, as she finally recognized him; Severus Aquius, formerly Astaroth, head of a newly created branch family and older brother of the Astaroth's head. Lord Beelzebub's own _uncle_.

Oh Satans, their influence ran this deep…

"No matter how you look at it; this was more than losing our ground in some small town without any strategic importance, this was a grave country-wide defeat that severely weakened our hold on the east."

The shouts of indignation here was deafening by that point; nothing agitates devils more than talks about losing strength.

"Now!" Hildebrand Stolas projected his voice once again. He made a gesture with his hand, and a servant deposited a pile of papers on the table. "I would like to present you the letters exchanged by Lady Belial and the exorcist. I'm sure you will all find the information there just as eye-opening as I did," He held one of the letters and opened, "Allow me to start…"

She stopped paying attention at this point; what kind of retard love-struck little girl did they think she was, _of course_ she has destroyed every letter she has ever sent or received from Masaomi, and she knew he wasn't dumb enough to not do the same. This was such an insult to her intelligence that she… she… ARGGGG!

She let out a loud grueling sound and began to trash against her restraints once again. Her reaction must have looked quite incriminating given that it started right after the reading of her supposed letters began, but she didn't give a fuck. She trashed, screamed, and cursed them all to the darkest pit of damnation, but most of all, she _memorized._

She would get her revenge, even if she _died_ here; she would somehow _claw_ her way back to live, and she'd _RIP OUT_ every single one of their FUCKING smug grins!

Something snapped inside her… not as a metaphor, something literally snapped inside her; she felt it happen and almost heard the sound somehow. A bright explosion of pain erupted in her belly, surpassing all other sources of pain in her body.

She bent forward as much as her restraints would allow; which wasn't much. A pain filled scream burned its way through her throat; most was muffed by the choker on her mouth, but still sounded visceral. Ironically, the new position prevented her from drowning, as it allowed the excess of blood rising on her throat to flow out and around the choker.

… She was tired, so fucking tired. These last few days have been the worst of her life, filled with constant fighting, constant paranoia, constant loss…

Constant betrayals.

She didn't want to think about how many on her peerage shared her late knight's beliefs, she… she never even imagined this could happen; sure, it's common for bad Kings who abuse their pieces to get what is coming for them eventually, so much so, that the pieces are even rewarded in some cases for showing the strength to take down their King, but this never happens with _good_ Kings; kings who treated their pieces with kindness and respect, kings who see their pieces as family instead of servants, kings like her!

She was a good king!

…Right?

 _"Al righto! Hildy-kun! You can stop now! Mimi-chan gets it!"_

A voice broke through the letter reading and the loud outrage of the crowd, it even managed to wash away her miserable thoughts… Replacing them with an unmistakable feeling every devil feel once on their lives, an instinctual feeling that every devil in the room felt _right now_ , and _at the same time._

The feeling of a _vastly_ more powerful devil exercising their presence.

"Hup!" Cried the childish voice as a young-looking girl jumped on the table and struck a confident pose, with her hand on her hips and a big grin on her face. She looked like a girl just starting puberty and was dressed in colorful cheerleader outfit that matched the bright pink tones of her hair and eyes. On her head there was a pair of stubby black horns; a mutation that was carried by every member of her family, they have been warped almost entirely in her hair, making them appear as a pair of cute hair buns at first glance.

Cleria Belial made an effort to keep her head upright to gaze at the young girl, this time her eyes held not only anger, but also fear and dread. Of all the people she saw today, of all the influential people participating in this circus, all the people that all but confessed to having ties with that hateful terrorist organization; she was the worst of them.

One of the oldest, most powerful, most recognizable devil of the Underworld, one that has personally trained Lady Serafall Leviathan in the past.

Mimosa Paimon, the head of the Paimon family.

She felt her guts churning with more than pain for the presence of a Pillar's head in this joke of a trial, let alone one of the most powerful ones. Oh Satan, how could they let this happen? How much did the Old Satan faction grow when they weren't looking? The Satan's should've hunted them down long ago, and they should not have let the descendants of the original Satans live!

Now they have the backing of a pillar, and given what she saw today, perhaps more than one.

This is another civil war brewing.

"Now, now, all of you are very smart cookies, and you know some really big words, Mimi-chan almost fell asleep, but she got it!" The young-looking girl waved her glove-covered hand, and a toy-like magical wand appeared in her slender fingers. She twirled it around and pointed forward. "Clery-chan, you have been a naughty girl! You better be prepared for Mimi-chan's judgment!"

Cleria Belial swallowed a glob of blood and fought against her muscles to straighten her back.

She glared the Satans representative with fierce determination. Whatever her fate might be, she would meet it with honor and dignity.

And she would defy it to the end… no matter what

-0-0-0-

I blinked, the point of view of Cleria Belial fading away and focused on the starry night sky before me. The constant message of danger my essence was sending concerning the former city governor was easily pushed to the back of my mind.

What a mess. I don't know if I should be relieved for getting out when I did or disappointed for missing out on the fun.

Still, Cleria's predicament was very interesting and very informative, I learned more about the Old Satan Faction by seeing through her eyes than I would have with months of espionage.

The anime from a lifetime ago told me how stupid they could be. Living in this world taught me how much of a threat they could represent. Seeing things through Cleria's eyes showed me the scale of their influence.

Save for a few notable exceptions, most Devils in that room were the bottom feeder of the Devil's nobility; the beggars, the ass-kissers, the cutthroat opportunists and genuine upstarts; families powerful enough to distinguish themselves from the masses, but not established enough to stand above the Megalodon Tank that was the lower to middle ranks of the Underworld high society

Each one with ties to higher and more important families or connection to some of the same stations, and each with their wealth to share, and their own private armies and set of vassals to command. Suddenly, those armies of devils that the Faction seemed to summon out of their ass in the anime didn't seem so improbable anymore.

I let my body slide down a little more on the wonderful waters of the hot spring; for a moment I just took in the peaceful atmosphere of the private hot spring of the famous Amagi Inn, located in the small rural town of Inaba.

Cicadas sang in a pleasant anime-esque melody at a distance. Transparent steam rose to the night sky in slow undulations. Soft, crackling light slightly illuminated the bamboo walls and cast dancing shadows that for once I didn't bother to dominate, the occasional thump of the Shishi-odoshi somehow brought more peace instead of ruining the mood. And the high-pitched, giggly commotion happening behind me brought a smile to my face.

Oh yeah, I could relax here.

My danger senses annoyed me again, and unconsciously sent me images of my 'bound creature' in mortal peril.

... That was a good way to break the mood.

Forced to consider Cleria's situation again, my mind wandered back to the Old Satan Faction.

I didn't believe that every devil on that hall was a loyal supporter of the Satan descendants, especially the strongest ones. Because in devil society, _power_ plays a more significant role than bloodlines. Even the pillars didn't get where they are by having the purest blood and the most powerful ability, no; they got there by _making_ their blood purer, and _cultivating_ their abilities to their maximum potential through a combination of alliances, dominations, violent conquests and a long and strict process of _selective breeding_ to make sure their sons and daughters were born as the pinnacle the devil race has to offer.

Fast forward a few eons and countless generations later, and you have pillar _newborns_ with more demonic energy than most devils would be able to achieve in their lifetime, and their physical attributes usually reach the level of what is considered normal for an adult devil during their childhood, and only grow from there.

So yeah, even if bloodlines do mean something, that 'something' quickly becomes 'nothing' if the devil doesn't have the power to back it up.

And the Satans' descendants… They aren't weak; it's impossible for a direct descendant of a super devil to be weak. But they aren't in the seemingly unachievable level of power that the current Satan's are, so much that they would need a boost from Ophis to even match opponent on that level in the future. The only reason they managed to rally the pillars into almost restarting the great war centuries ago was because they were raised in secrecy and had just popped into the political scene; nobody knew their level of power, so everybody assumed that they were stronger than most of them.

But now, it's common knowledge that they are in the level of an above-average Pillar head at best; not weak, but not impossible to challenge. And that fact alone kept them, and by extension the Old Satan Faction, from influencing the upper levels of society.

Or at least, that was what people thought.

The presence of Mimosa Paimon changes everything.

All the pillar heads are all famous across the underworld, especially inside their family region, so there is a lot of information and gossip about them; besides the usual ludicrous rumors. It was a known fact that Mimosa Paimon has been around long enough to have her name written in history books and is without question considered one of the strongest devils alive.

I sighed, lowering my mouth underwater to make some bubbles. Because why not?

… This proves what I was suspecting; the Old Satan Faction isn't just a terrorist organization exclusively loyal to the descendants of the Old Satans, they are more like an opposite political party composed of the devils dissatisfied with the current Satan policies, each of them agreeing with, at various degrees, with the ideas of the Faction.

That would also explain why no other powerful devil affiliated with the Faction appeared in the anime besides the descendants… and Beelzebub's sheltered little brother; those guys were the _extremists._

Politics…

No, worse; _devil_ politics, the kind where debates were just something to pass the time before the servants have finished sharpening their swords. That's just what I needed to raise the level of my headache due to this already complicated world, but I suppose it's inevitable given the family I was born from…

I lifted my face from the water to bask in the moonlight once again.

And there were three moons; a normal one and two milk-white with puffy rose tips.

… Of course.

The two milky white ones bounced away, and the smiling, upside down, face of Araneya Dantalion overtook my vision.

Drowning Cleria's increasingly dangerous predicament became a lot easier after that.

"Chuuu~" I blinked as she lowers herself with a weird humming; her lips pouting in a bright, cushion-like pout before falling over my own.

We stayed like that for a couple of seconds. It was nice.

"What are you thinking about, Ely?" She said after pulling back.

"…You made me forget." I gave a partially honest answer and appreciated the way she blushed. She moved up, and then slid herself down into the water next to me. I kept my eyes locked on her body, admiring the way the light danced over her usually unnoticeable muscles, the way thick thighs, wide hips and trim stomach submerged, leaving only two mountainous globes partially above water. I noticed a layer of barely wiped soap still covering them.

Any Japanese people would make rude remarks about mother, for not properly wiping the soap away before entering the spring, but those are human rules, and we as devils don't give a fuck about them. Besides, there was a lot of soap on her body.

As she arched her back and let out a deep, pleasured groan, I tilted my head back and saw the naked, shining, and very unconscious form of Belinda Abamelik, with a puddle of blood steadily pouring from her nose.

She was not prepared for the way my mother liked to apply soap, not prepared at all… but she lasted way longer than I thought she would.

"She is going to try to get revenge for that, you know?" I commented.

"Hehehe, I hope so!" Mother giggled and lowered herself into the spring. The way her breast floated slightly was both sexy and funny. "Ah, this is the life!"

"Mmm," I closed my eyes, enjoying the feeling of the hot water, "Inaba isn't so bad."

"It's amazing! Kuoh and Inaba, all those sights, the fashion, the people. The human world is so different now!"

"The hot springs are pretty awesome." I dropped my comment; those animes were not exaggerating. "This was a fun vacation."

"Hehehe, it's not a vacation, silly," I felt mother pulling my cheek lightly, "You're supposed to be here to learn how to act in the human world, remember?"

"Oh well, I learned what I could with you distracting me, mother."

I felt the water moving was she changed position, "Kukuku, that's what you're mistaken Ely; it wasn't me who distracted you, it was Bella!" I opened my eyes to see that she was with both of her arms beside my head, pinning me to the rocky border of the spring. All I could see from my position was her cleavage falling to the water surface and her pretty, smiling face, bright red from the heat.

"I'm going to miss it you know? Being Bella." She said, coming closer.

I rolled my eyes, "What are you talking about woman? It's not like you won't be Bella again at the castle."

She pressed our foreheads together and closed her eyes. "But not all the time like now. It's liberating."

"Heh," I couldn't help but laugh. "You prefer being my cow rather than being my mother, that's kinda depressing."

"What?!" She snapped her eyes open, and soon a soft mass of warm, feminine curves fell over me in a crushing hug. "No! No!No!No!No! Mommy love being Ely's mommy! Even more than being Ely's cow! _Mommy will be your cow mommy!"_

"Put me down, woman. It was a joke!"

I'd be a lot more worried by her reaction if I hadn't felt the initial wave of panic retreat back in the moment it came through our mind bridge, most of this little show was just an excuse to hug me close and wave me around.

Seriously, this clingy woman… this warm, wonderfully curved, distractingly soft, sexy woman, she got to learn to talk to me without latching onto me all the time! It might get us in trouble someday.

"Ah!" She exclaimed pulling back and looking at me with surprise. Soon that surprise turned into a knowing look, and she leaned forward with a teasing smile. "Ahhhhhhhh..." She trailed off in a cheerful sound that a cat makes when it corners a rat.

I gave her nothing to stand on. "You are the sexiest woman that I know, I have no excuses."

"Up!" She chirped and raised me above water by my armpits; she's been doing that a lot lately because I'm beginning to grow, and soon she won't be able to anymore… but still, it's a little degrading.

"Oh my, Ely! You naughty boy~." She exclaimed with a cat-like smile. Her hips start swaying slightly from side to side in the water as she continued. "Reacting like that to your own mother! Mou, what am I going to do with you!?" She bemoaned dramatically.

Well, by that point…

"I can't help it, mommy," I whined tearfully, my voice dripping with innocence and confusion, while my eyes grew bigger and shinier. "You're so pretty and warm and soft that this always happens no matter what!"

Now, I usually look older than I really am, to the point that people are genuinely surprised when they find out I'm not even ten yet. However, I can easily increase my level of cuteness to look my own age if I wanted. There is no magic or logical explanation for it; It's just something I can do. I'm placing the blame in porn logic, which began to affect more and more of my life as I grew older.

Mother's eyes went wide, and quickly began to roll over my form, a mighty puff of air came out from her flaring nostrils, "W-Well, what kind of mother would I be to leave my son in that state. I was to blame for these lustful urges, after all, I have to take… _responsibility_." She said, licking her lips.

Soon, I was deposited on the borders of the hot spring with my mother between my legs, pressing her body against mine.

She sighed as her lips meet my own, shortly after our tongues were moving to taste each other mouths.

The constant effects of the Breeder's Essence had changed her taste to something delicious, but utterly incomparable to anything else, is the only way I could describe it.

She tasted like herself.

It was my favorite.

I leaned back slightly, placing my hands on the ground for support, and giving more room for her own hands to explore. I felt her soft breasts sliding across my chest; it made me throb against her stomach.

"Hm~." She moaned against my mouth, her hand stroking the faint muscle lines on my back before circling around my waist. Soon, her fingers wrapped around my length. "Hehehe, Ely is gonna make so many girls happy in the future!" I could see her eyes shining with the thought.

Yeah… if there is something that has been affected the most by my breeder essence, it was my member. It wasn't a thirteen inches long monster that could break a bitch's mind and ruin them for every other man after; rather, it was an above-average penis that was big enough to make any young man proud to have it. But that's the thing; a young _man_. On someone of my age, and compared to the size of my body, it looked positively burly.

It was also the biggest proof that the logic that governs my world didn't consider me a child, it considered me a _Shota._

Still don't know how to feel about that.

But the slender fingers trailing it up and down my shaft was doing a fantastic job to lean my thoughts to the positive side.

"Hmm, Ely's thing looks so troubled." Mother purred with a hazy look. "Did it become like that because of Mommy's breasts?" My eyes dropped to her cleavage. A strong pulse was my only answer. "It did! Well then, mommy is going to fix it."

The massive, soap covered breasts began to lower, traversing every inch of my torso in an agonizingly slow pace; I almost groaned in anticipation, and my mother giggled at my struggle.

She placed both of her hands on top of it, using her arms to press the mountains together. I felt my head bumping in the line between.

"Here, we, go!" She pushed down; enveloping my penis in a valley of softness. "Ahh, Ely's so warm~."

 _I'm_ so warm!? This woman's tits felt like a genuine pussy, especially when they were all soapy like that! And she's telling me I'm the one who is warm!

I'd make a smartass comment if I was still capable of talking.

I threw my head back and blew a puff of air instead, enjoying the feeling of having my member fully enveloped by my mother's breasts. It's just meant to be…

She pressed her hand on the sides, increasing the pressure tenfold, then slowly raised them until only my cockhead was pressed between, and brought it down. The soap provided just the right amount of lubrication; it felt blissfully wonderful.

It was only a warm-up of what was to come.

One of the most underhanded uses of enormous breasts that few women even realized it had was the vast range of options it provides when a titfuck happens, and mother knew how to use this range masterfully.

She brought the right one down while the left one goes up, she changed the position of my penis while inside so it could experience different levels of pressure, she twisted slightly to the side until my member popped out from underneath, only to be wrapped once again, she did the classical up and down fucking alternating speeds from slow and steady to fast and rough, all of that with love and attention one would give to the one they love.

It was quite honestly; the mother of all paizuris, it knocked me to the ground as a drooling mess.

"Ah, Ely's getting bigger! Are you going to cum?" I can control my own ejaculation, but I decided to indulge her. "Ely's gonna cum! Hold on!" suspecting what was about to happen. I looked down to watch the spectacle.

She brought the Titans down, smashing them against my hips and keeping them here, the pressure was so high that some milk began pouring out of her erect nipples.

The head of my cock, which has been fully enveloped before, popped out on top of the cleavage and was immediately encapsulated by warm, moist lips where a pink, flexible tongue was very happy to see it.

How could I not cum, after that?

My body trembled as I erupted, and an eruption was a good metaphor because anything else would've downgraded it.

My hips unconsciously thrust upwards as I sent ropes after ropes of cum down my mother's mouth. She had taken more of my member inside so I managed to feel her throat working desperately to swallow the impossible amount.

She did a great job, but she only had so much space in her mouth, so she couldn't keep it from overflowing and get her breasts drenched with my gooey, white seed; I don't think she minded though.

After a full half minute of this, I closed the metaphorical gate, and finally stopped cumming.

She leaned back dizzyingly, and unintentionally separated my dick from the mess that was her breasts; their topside was almost completely covered with many thick ropes connecting the valley between. Her face was puffed by the amount she still held inside her month; impressively, it was left almost clean, saved for some that had escaped around the lips.

Her clouded eyes rolled around drunkenly, flashes of pink light sparkling inside in an unshaped form; this always happens when a great amount of my cum is involved; I filed that phenomenon under porn logic… I'm almost sure that's a heart shape symbol just waiting to manifest.

I watched her visibly gulping down what she had in her mouth. "Ah~ tashte sho gooshd, it'sh teh besht!" She swayed to the side slightly, the waves in the water showed that her lower side was shaking. "Bestsh, ever!" when her mouth was empty, her tongue dashed to seek more around her lips. Soon her breasts were being pushed up to the reach of the hungry tongue.

I watched it all with erotic fascination, I don't know when my cum had become ambrosia, but it made sense given that my essence of the blank was empowering my essence of the breeder for years; it's kind of scary to think that the potency would only increase in the future.

And seeing my gorgeous mother crazy for my seed… I didn't even need the essence to stay hard.

"Ah~." She smacked her clean lips together looking more stable now. Playful red eyes turned to me, and a grim formed on her naughty little mouth. "Look Ely, this time, mommy was the one who milked you, hehehe~."

This woman…

"Ara ara, mommy is about to be eaten~."

My hand clamped down on her shoulder and pushed her out of the water and to the floor, she went with a playful yelp.

As she went down, her hips instinctively stayed up, a sign of a well-trained slut. The thick, juicy flesh of her thigh and ass showed the world that while she was unbeatable on the topside, she doesn't slack off on the bottom side.

"This is no good mommy!" My mouth was running on autopilot, the rest of my mind was too busy admiring the majestic woman spread out for me. "This is no way for a mother to treat her son, it's forbidden! You have been a very naughty mommy." I was already on my feet and stepping behind her. No matter how much I see it, it was almost impressive how beautiful her pussy looked; all fat and reddened outer lips, and pale pink inner ones. The pink, blinking hole above was also extremely attractive. The aroma of her arousal alone made my member double in size and stiffness, let alone the sight. "You must be punished."

 _"Yes!"_ Came her voice, dripping with lust, she looked back at me with wide, needy eyes. "Mommy has been oh, so, bad! She must be punished, punished like a bad mommy she is oooo-" She almost lost herself when I buried my fingers in the flesh of her sizable ass. "Oh yes, Oh yes, Ely, please! Please! Mommy needs it!"

I dove myself deep inside her with a powerful thrust, making her back bent until her breasts weren't touching the floor anymore. I couldn't see her face, but the way she threw her head back but no sound save for a sharp intake of breath came out told me that she's still trying to find her voice.

I wasn't doing much better myself.

Mother's pussy was just indescribable; there was no word to describe the feeling of the velvet walls clenching tightly around me, milking every inch of my cock in a constant, mind-melting massage, while at the same time grabbing me so tighly that I feared she'd never let me go, all set in boiling temperatures that burned in the most delicious way possible.

This must be the work of the Breeder's Essence; I had very few means of comparison, just Belinda's and some faded sensations from the memories of another life, but I knew that it _should not_ feel this good; no pussy could be this _spectacular._

My own Breeder's Essence was the only reason I'm even capable of having coherent thoughts right now… which made me remember that I also have a Breeder's Essence, and a much superior one at that; I wonder if my dick also feels magically good.

"OoOoOoOooOoOoo~" My mother's voice came back in a mindless moan as I started to pull back, fighting against her walls the entire way. When I was left with only the cock head inside, I _thrusted_ back in. "HYA!"

Oh yeah, I can make music like that.

And music I made, turning my mother into a gorgeous instrument that let out the most beautiful notes.

The sounds just egged me on.

The incredible sensations of her quivering insides only increased, her wide, motherly hips began to bounce in the rhythm of my thrusts, the milky white flesh of her ass rippling with each smack; I saw that as a challenge.

"Ely~ Elyr ish insishe~Ely ish isishe Ely, Ely,ElyElyElyELYELYELYELYELYELYELYELYELYOhhhh ohhh ELY~!" Her voice fluctuated between coherence and incoherence, I grunted, grabbing her hair and pu her head back, lifting her upper body from the floor and making her moans turn into howl of passion. _"ELYAHHHHHHHH~!"_

I could see her tits bouncing mightily beneath her from the side. From my throat come an almost animalistic sound, and suddenly my mouth was _very_ dry.

"Ow!" She moaned as I pulled her leg up and made her body slip to the side, the new sideway position allowed me to reach new depths, so that is exactly what I did. "GARHHHHH!"

My piston-like thrusts came rougher than before; I could practically feel my ministrations breaking through her own orgasm control and violently taking her to the edge.

I saw her giants tits flopping up and down; the right one less so cause it was pressed against the floor, I slowed down my speed to her momentary frustrations and went for the nipple.

My teeth bit the areola with her favorite degree of roughness and began sucking. Magically delicious milk poured down my throat in a mighty stream, while my tongue moved to tease it. My thrusts were now slow and powerful, trying to go as deep as I could while instinctively managing her pleasure to keep her on the edge.

My member wasn't long enough to knock the door of my first home, but goddamn it if I didn't made a good attempt.

My mind was relishing in the sensations, while my body moved in an almost dreamlike state; I wanted **more** ; more feeling, more experiences, more lust, more _love_.

And my body moved to get it from the boundless well that was my mother.

… When I noticed that the second nipple was in my mouth, and I was grunting some words in a constant animalistic hymn, I realized that I had momentarily lost myself in my lust.

The explosion of pleasure my member produced as it penetrated the frenetically quivering walls showed me that mother is in a multiple orgasmic state, and the sudden fullness showed me that I had climaxed at least a few times as well.

How long have we been doing this?

 _"Yeshhhhh,"_ Mother's voice was guttural and heavy, showing that she was just as wild as I was, her arms were tightly wrapped around me as her legs were spread to the side as I plowed mercilessly between. _"Mommy is yours sweetie, yesh! yesh! All yours, I'm yours, I belong to Ely, yours, yours, yours, yours, yours,yoursyoursyoursyoursyoursyoursyoursyoursAH! AH-HiHHHHH!"_ Her walls began to undulate more fiercely as her constant orgasms reached another peak.

Okay, assuming direct control.

I drove myself deep and kept it there, trembling by the bolt of my own orgasm as I exploded inside her. The need influx of warm made her quake more powerfully with a deliriously happy howl, I had to hug her tighly to keep her in place.

Luckily, both of us are currently infertile… though mother with her belly big and pregnant wasn't an unattractive thought. Maybe in the future…

After a the explosive climax died down, and the sensations went back to the usual intimate bliss. We both lay there catching our breaths, our hot, sticky bodies trying to melt together into a pile of incestuous mush; the wetness on our skin definitely wasn't from the hot spring anymore.

Eventually, I raised my upper body out of her limp embrace, and took a look at the awe-inspiring vision underneath.

Mother was still calming her breaths. The movements of her chest were making the mountains jiggle in a hypnotic display, reddened bite marks stood up atop the milky white skin around the swollen nipples, the rest of her body was covered by a dense layer of sweat and looked utterly relaxed. A crown of crystalline white hair was spread all around, with her perfect face locked in an expression of pure satisfaction. And her eyes… her crimson eyes were swirling in that absurd blend of love and obsession that I adored.

… Alright, perhaps losing control from time to time wouldn't be so bad.

 _Definitely_ going to prepare a better location next time though.

I looked around. Luckily , no enemy seems to have approached while we were... busy, and it was still night, meaning we couldn't have fucked for too long, a few hours at most.

Oh wait, Belinda!

She was still unconscious and bleeding through her nose… but in a different position.

Oops.

"Elllllly~" Slender hands cupped my face in a lazy grasp, bringing my attention back to the sexiest woman in the world, and her hot, needy look. _"Mommy needs more…"_

…How the fuck could I say no to that?

-0-0-0-

The balcony of the Amagi inn's VIP room strikes the perfect balance between comfort and elegance.

Like the room itself, it was all made from high-quality wood with a set of comfortable low chairs facing a tea table. The night was particularly chilly, but for someone used to the Dantalion region's weather this was like a summer morning in a tropical island. A soft breeze shook the branches of the path of Sakura trees outside, making the petals fly around the place like pink snowflakes; these trees had miraculously blossomed out of season a few hours after we arrived… I wonder how that happened.

I passed through the Japanese slide doors that separated the place, sending a brief look to the majestic sight of two beautiful women sleeping peacefully with their loose kimonos all opened behind me.

My shoulders dropped in disappointment for what I was losing; the urge to go back inside, cuddled up between them was almost overwhelming

But alas, I had work to do.

Going to the edge of the balcony, I took a deep breath to calm my nerves after a very sexual day. After I judged myself appropriately relaxed; I fixed my kimono and snapped my fingers.

The newly revived form of Cleria Belial disappeared from my storage and appeared above the tea table.

The small wooden table had no chance to hold under the weight of the metal restraint covering the woman's form; it cracked and set the body rolling to the floor.

I watched her as she arched what she could of her back, and threw her masked head up. Soon, the coughing and the muffled gasps of pain echoed.

My eyes trailed over her form… This was just mean; the last fight against the Satans' secret police had broken most of her bones and left behind some pretty grevious wounds, but unfortunately for her, they had managed to stabilize her before she could die, but apparently they could only be bothered to treat the injuries which directly threatened her life; the many, many others went completely ignored as they stuck her inside the constricting bodysuit they used on inmates, and snapped heavy metal restraints over her broken limbs.

The mask is outside of the norm though; someone must have been feeling dramatic.

"Hello, Cleria. How are you doing?" She didn't answer, just continued to lie there gasping for breath.

Right.

I kicked her to let her lie on her back; she let out a grunt by the movement. "Let me take care of that for you." I crouched down next to her head and grabbed the side of my mask. "Here we go!" Hard metal molded like clay under my fingers.

The mask snapped open, revealing a pale-faced, exhausted-looking Ceria inside, the blood-covered choker was the next to go.

She immediately turned her head to the side and spat a worrisome amount of blood.

"Who…" She rasped out between the coughs, her voice small and weak. "Are… You?" Fierce orange eyes rose to meet my red ones. Good, she got some fight left.

"Oh, you know who I am." I smiled. " **Remember** **me**."

The command hit her body like a shockwave. She blinked; her eyes gaining a look of recognition for a second, before changing to one of fury.

"Elias Dantalion!" She snarled, and then coughed to the side; her voice was gaining strength. "How… Why… _YOU!"_

I grabbed the lower half of her face, silencing her shouts.

"Yeah, no, no this isn't what you're thinking." I rolled my eyes at her murderous glare, "Look, I know it looks bad; waking up in the middle of an unknown location with someone that erased himself from your memories without you even realizing it, and right after you've been through the worst shitstorm of your life too. I bet you were expecting me to make a speech about how I was the mastermind behind it all or some shit, but no, what happened to you wasn't my fault." It was partially my fault; I was the one who stole the King Piece and pissed off the entire Faction.

A week after the fact, and they had eyes all over the city; especially on the city's governor. So, when she figured out about the existence of king pieces and how they're using it to control the rating games; they were the first to know.

She's still looking at me with hostility, but I didn't expect us to be all sunshine and rainbows just because of that.

Deciding to take my chances, I released her mouth. And immediately had to dodge a glob of blood spat at me.

"Fine, if you gonna be like that-"

 _"Why were you and the maid there that night!?"_ She demanded, probably to distract me while her hands discreetly tried to find a way out of the binds.

What was she going to do if she managed to get free I wonder; her body is broken, her energy reserves are empty, and she is bound to me at a deeper level than she realizes.

And why am I wasting time talking to her anyway?

…Fuck this is my devil side showing.

"You know what…" I was about to move on, but I just couldn't help but rub it in a little. So I sent her a sweet smile.

Hah! That made her blush before she remembered she was supposed to be angry.

"That's not important right now, what is important is that you're dead." She kept glaring at me, but her eyebrow went up a little. "Well, everybody thinks you're dead, anyway. You… a young, promising, powerful, pillar devil, who is loved like a little sister by the newly crowned head of the Belial…" Also, she is sexy, fun to hang out with, and my mother really likes her. "A 'dead' devil with your past and power have many opportunities on their 'afterlife' so to speak, so what do-"

"Oh spare me the pain!" She groaned, making an aggressive eyeroll, "For someone who said he didn't want to make a speech, you're doing a pretty shitty job at it; so here is my answer; you can take your little contract, or offer, or proposition and shove it! I'm not interested in working with a creepy little kid who is most likely involved with terrorists! You can even kill me if you want, but rest assured that my family will hunt you down to the end of times, you and that little bunch of traitors!"

Her words just made my smile grown bigger.

"You know… I'm starting to see the value in these speeches; hearing the delusional answers of the other party is so much fun, I'd even considered doing this on regular bases, if it wasn't so stupid." I leaned closer. "What makes you think you have a choice?" I finished with a whisper.

"Do your _fucking_ worst. If those fuckers didn't manage to break me, _you_ won't be the one to-"

 **"Can you enter a trance for me, please?** Thank you." I reached behind me and pulled a chair. Making myself comfortable beside the hypnotized woman. "Now…" I cracked my neck with a satisfying sound. "Let's begin the mental programming, shall we? **Your first command is…"**

Reshaping someone's mind is something I've become really, really good at over the years. I dedicated quite a bit of my time to perfect the art - and it _was_ an art, it just takes too much effort to do it properly; as in not making a emotionless thrall, not making the person go crazy by conflicting orders, and more importantly, making all the changes seem natural, for it not to be called an art.

Cleria was my most challenging work, for I didn't know her very well, and I had to do _a lot_ of changes to get what I wanted.

It took a long time, and I had to pause many times to heal her condition a little more because she would have died if I didn't, but in the end, I was satisfied with my work.

It could be much simpler to just make her a subservient automaton… but I _hate_ subservient automatons, there are only three people in the entire world who I would gladly destroy their sense of self to make into one, and one of them I already did; Dear father only has a complex cover of normality now, there is nothing underneath that could be considered a person; his bind doesn't even loosen anymore.

Looking at the now much more healthy looking woman peacefully sleeping on the chair, wearing only a skintight bodysuit free of any restraints, I decided that it was worth the effort.

I puffed a condensed cloud of cold air, leaning back, and lazily directed my eyes to the sunrise.

Tomorrow, I'll be going back to the Underworld, back to Dantalion's castle, and back to surviving Devil society.

A smile formed on my face, and my mind began to wander to all the fun times I had with the people I love over these last few weeks, and of course the rare acquisitions I managed to get in the form of a Fallen, a werewolf, and a MILF.

Yeah, this was a fun vacation, an enjoyable, relaxing, and very productive vacation, and the best part is; absolutely nothing went wrong.

…

 _…Why the fuck did I think that!?_

A wave of dread shot to my very core; I almost jumped out of my chair.

No it couldn't be, I mean; It was only a story cliché right, there was no way such thing as challenging fate was real, there was no logical explanation! Bad things won't happen just because I thought about how right everything went; it was insane!

But then again, the supernatural exists, why not something like that won't be tru- _Oh fuck!_

… After a tense minute of nothing happening, and the world failed to explode, I relaxed back on the chair.

Really… Maybe mother is right. I'm a little too paranoid; getting all worked up by a fucking mental statement, it's not like the world is going to end-

 _"OOOOIIII! Can you hear me Dantalion Boy!? CAN YOU HEAR WHAT I'M THINKING!?"_

Fucking… Hell.

 _"Does this even work? Man, I feel stupid right now…"_

My hand met my face.

 _"Yes, I can hear you, Silvana."_ I send the mental message. This conversation will give me a headache; I just know it.

 _"OH! HI, KID! HOW'S IT GOING! HOLY SHIT ARE WE REALLY DOING MENTAL CONVERSATION ACROSS DIMENSIONS!?"_

 _"You don't have to scream Silvana, I can hear you just fine."_ I braced myself. _"What did you do?"_

 _"HAHAHA! What? Couldn't I just be in the mood for a nice and friendly-"_

 _"What… did you do?"_ I asked more strongly.

 _"Alright, alright, you're no fun…"_ Silvana's feelings are really fucking hard to understand, not because she is good at hiding them, but because they are so twisted that they could barely be identified as feeling. But I managed to recognize her form of annoyance, her form of excitement, and a small hint of fear. _"I made a stealth exit! With some death and destruction along the way. No wait, it wasn't stealthy at all, EXPLOSIONS EVERYWHERE HAHAHA! Took my kid with me of course; those pansy fuckers couldn't handle her awesomeness, they wouldn't raise her right. She loved the little Matryoshka you sent, by the way, can't wrap her mind on how there is a smaller one inside a bigger one."_

I spend a few moments trying to fuse my hand to my face.

Of course, she'd take Mirabelle with her. It's like she _wanted_ to have the entire Underworld after her.

 _"Why… the_ fuck _did you do that?"_

 _"Oh don't give me sass boy, it was the only way. That green-haired, cumfaced, femboy, tiny-dicked, bastard was going to visit soon to have a look on my seals, and sorry to break it to you kid, but he would notice your work, hell I managed to notice. You're good, but the bastard is better."_

 _"So instead of calling me so we can make a plan, you went ahead and just escaped."_

 _"Escaped_ ** _explosively_** _. Incidentally, I need you to release the rest of my seals, and a place to lay low for a few days would be super nice."_

I sighed, rubbing my temples while carefully considering the situation. Finally, I had my answer.

 _"No."_

 _"No? What the fuck you mean no!?"_

 _"I mean; no,"_

I said, putting emphasis on the word. " _You went ahead and created a situation that will undoubtedly bring the attention of the Satans, I won't discuss the merit of your decision, but you've just become too much of a burden to take care of now, so tell me a reason why shouldn't I drop you?"_

In truth, I do not need Silvana Purson alive; I already have the Purson family operations under my control, not as tightly as the Dantalion's but good enough. Plus, I already bound Mirabelle, she is sure to be more agreeable then her mother, so if the Satans kill Silvana and retrieve Mirabelle, it will be beneficial for me.

Let's see if Silvana will pass this little test, shall we?

 _"A reason?! How about 'You help me right now, and I don't sing about the Dantalion boy conspiring against them when they come'! Is that good enough for a reason?! Bitch, if I go down, your pedo-baiting ass is coming with me!"_

Only someone like her will go to test me back on this kind of situation.

 _"Really? That's the best you can come up with? Ok then, sing all you want, let's see how that turns up for you."_

If it all went south, I could always send a mental command for her to kill herself, or just retrieve her to my storage and decide what to do with her later. I opened my mental eyes to her point of view, seeing her running through a dense forest of blood-red trees with pitch-black leaves. Huh, she is escaping through the Sanguinária woods, northwest of the Purson region, probably trying to lose whoever is pursuing her on the shifting fields of the Sallos region, before properly running north, to the Dantalions'.

 _"….Heh, Heheheehhehehehe FINE! Let's do it your way! It's not like I didn't think of a way to compensate you for all the trouble; we are close partners after all! Tight as a family!"_

 _"Sure,"_ I deadpanned _"…I'm listening."_

 _"You don't want the Satans breathing down your neck right Kid? You want them looking elsewhere and properly distracted! It was easy to notice that about you, you don't even try to hide!"_

 _"Your point?"_

 _"So, how about I make sure they are distracted while you do your own little schemes from the shadows."_

" _You're doing that right now. Thanks, by the way."_

 _"NO, I mean; constantly, 24/7, all the fucking time. You help me, and I will become so big of a thorn on their pompous asses that they won't be able to afford to look away for a single second! And you can believe me when I said this, 'cause raising hell is my fucking specialty!"_

That's… an interesting approach; the Satans don't usually face much direct opposition beyond petty political ego stroking. When an opposition movement that is not backed by them pops up, they are quick to snuffle them using any means necessary, as any sane government would. That's why the Old Satan Faction operates mostly with secrecy.

But to have an open and direct opposition to their government, and by a Pillar devil too, one infamous among high society for killing her own heir, and by her own admission had just caused a lot of death and property damage on her escape. Just Silvana alone makes a very dangerous image, but with the right amount of backing and a few strategic moves…

She can be a threat to be reckoned with.

Maybe even become a symbol for those who rebel against the current government, she does have a significant advantage over the secretive Old Satan Faction by merely having a recognizable face; an image is essential after all.

… This sounds interesting. Very interesting.

 _"WELL!?"_ She shouted, transmitting the alien thing she calls impatience to me, I managed to notice something else… Is that fear? Oh, her pursuers are getting close.

 _"…You wanted a place to lay low right?"_

Chuckling, I raised my hand with a theatrical movement, even if no one would see it; drama is a vital part of being a devil as I come to learn… that, or Riser is finally getting to me.

Then, I snapped my fingers.

Silvana and Mirabelle Purson immediately disappeared from wherever they were, and appeared in my storage, safe and sound.

And with that; another political shitstorm begins, this time on Pillar family levels.

No rest for the wicked, indeed.


	20. Chapter 16

Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw. back on QQ forum

Chapter 16

* * *

The birds scattered as titans crashed in the Dantalion's forest.

…And that is saying something, because the Dantalion forest's birds don't usually scatter for anything. No, they typically stay around long enough for the fight to end, and then descend on whoever is left standing like a school of flying piranhas.

I found humor at the sight from my spinning perspective, right before we hit the ground.

 _"Omote Renge (Front Lotus)!"_

Snow banks erupted upward in a dense white cloud, the earth cracked into deep ravines beneath, and a localized earthquake shook the nearby trees.

My still spinning form burst out from the cloud, landing at a distance in a graceful stance. As I rose to my feet, I rip away the last remnants of my once fine shirt and left my torso open to the region's brutal weather. The black lines of my restraining seals now covered most of it, in stylish formations.

"Come on, Whitey!" I shouted to the slowly fading cloud, unable to keep the enthusiasm from my voice. "I know you can do better than that! Stand up!"

An animalistic grunt eventually resonated from the cloud and I saw a blur rising up and up until it stood at least three to four times the height of an adult man. Then, the blur leaned in and let out a distinct roar. It wasn't that loud, but it was strong and imposing, with the air produced blowing away part of the cloud, revealing the mass of muscle, white fur and pitch black eyes of the hellbeast underneath.

Whitey was a bear-shaped hellbeast, and unlike the rest of invisible bone wolves, teleporting deer, and the fascist squirrel society, he didn't have any weird magical ability that was so common throughout the beasts of the Underworld. In fact, the only thing that differentiates him from a regular polar bear is his enormous size, and the range of movements his limbs could reach. In any other circumstance, he would be a shit tier hellbeast, and would probably be hunted by a devil kid looking to challenge himself or herself.

And yet, he is among the strongest hellbeast in my forest, for one reason alone.

I saw him visibly hold back his feral rage and let out a deep calming breath, then he pushed his right leg forward, bent the left one, and moved his arm in precise waving movements as he entered the Ryūsui Gansai-ken (Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist) stance.

I could only smile at the sight.

It's not uncommon for the hellbeasts of the Dantalion's forest to copy my movements, but Whitey took that to a whole new level. There is literally nothing I could use on the physical sense that wouldn't be used against me on the next time we fight; hell, sometime even a few moves later! This motherfucker is a literal martial art sponge, absorbing everything I threw at him no matter how hard or impossible it would be to reproduce.

And on these last few weeks, something changed; his natural physical attributes grew at an incredible rate, and he started to come up with his own moves instead of ripping off of mine.

Yeah, Whitey is a genuine Kung Fu bear, and he is by far the most fun beast to fight, in my opinion. With his help, I managed to test and grow used to many of the fighting styles I have access to.

"Alright, now we ca-"

I couldn't even finish before he was already on me. His claws left a trail of angry red lines on the skin of my arm as I used it to block and slipped inside his guard. He followed that up with an elbow strike, and then twisted out of the way when he realized he hit nothing.

Not wanting to be in the defensive. I inserted myself closer to his side as I ducked under his arm, pummeling his ribcage with punches before he could put up a proper guard.

He staggered back with a grunt, but soon push forward again. I clicked my tongue and grabbed his arm, throwing his huge body over my shoulder. The fucker broke the fall with his legs and used his height advantage to throw me through a tree.

He had adapted to my strength again; I realized as I straightened myself midair and dodged the claw strike of the now pursuing bear. It was the second time this happened on this fight, I've already used almost half of what I could exert, and our strikes are literally leaving shockwaves behind! But he is meeting it all stoically calm; this fucker has the resilience of a high-class devil already.

I smiled as the claw scraped my cheeks and wondered how far I can push him.

 _"Soru (Shave)!"_

I disappeared with a set of exploding kicks, and he did the same with a bear-like grunt. Our supersonic bodies crashed in an explosion of snow and dirt.

His form flew through the forest a second later, breaking through many of the iron hard trees along the way.

"Not bad!" I said, appearing over his fallen form. "But not quite enough, it was supposed to be ten kicks in a single moment, not eight." I have no idea if he could understand me or not, but it felt right to comment about his stumbles, he certainly roars funny to me when the situation was reversed. "Do you think you can go on or is that enough?"

An angry growl was all my answer, he stood back holding the right side of his face, which now had a realistic impression of my knee in it and entered a modified Full Contact Karate stance.

Oh? This bitch wants to go God of Highschool on me? Fine!

I fall into a Renewal Taekwondo stance, ready to go Monkey King on his ass.

Then, the ground beneath his feet burst open, and a thick, snake-like, wooden root wrapped itself on his outstretched arm.

Whitey lets out a growl of confusion and quickly rips the thing away, but by that point more were bursting from the ground and grabbing on to various points on his body.

Oh.

I raised my head to trail up at the building-sized tree behind the struggling bear with my eyes. There is nothing that differentiates it from the other building sized trees in this forest, but that's kinda the point.

It's a carnivorous tree, a common species of mimic on the underworld. They come in various appearances depending on the forest they inhabit, and can have various means to trap their prey. It is said that the level of their strength is proportional to the type of prey that lives in the area. The ones on the Dantalion Forest are crazy strong for obvious reasons.

Ah hell, that's an unfair advantage!

I raise my hand to cast a fire spell…

Nope, too late.

I watch as the tangle of roots dragged poor Whitey underground, he roared and trashed the whole time, but sunk quickly and mercilessly all the same, like the hard ground was the world's fastest-acting quicksand. I have no doubt the serrated tips of the roots are already piercing his flesh to draw his blood and nutrients like it did with so many others.

I sighed, cracking my neck and starting to walk away.

I guess its revival time… or perhaps I should take a few minutes to digest the nuances of Whitey's new battle style, so when I bring the fucker back out he'd have to step up his game.

Hmm? He is not on the storage…

*Crrrrrrrack*

 _*Booom!*_

The sound of cracking wood and earth erupting resonated throughout the forest. I quickly snapped my head back just before an exploding roar blasted and damn near threw me on my ass.

I watched as a pissed off Whitey rose from his earth prison with huge chunks of the enormous tree collapsing on the background behind him; making the entire forest tremble.

"Holy Crap!" I laughed. "I didn't think you'd be able to-"

I trailed off as I noticed something really, really _odd_ about Whitey's form. Beyond the expected dirt, stab injuries and his furious look, there was a translucent aura flaring around his body, making it seem like he was enveloped by an invisible gust of wind.

The fuck is that? I thought he didn't have any…

…Wait a second, I narrowed my eyes- my Archmage eyes- which are reacting right now…

Is that a spell?

No, it's not, according to what I could see… so why are my eyes reacting-

 _*Swoosh!*_

I detected quite a lot of pain flaring from the right side of my body… and the way the world was moving told me I'd been blasted across the forest.

Using the third tree I crashed through as leverage to control my position; I buried my ankle in the ground in an attempt to interrupt my flight.

… More pain, and I flew again, this time above the treetops.

Okay, I see what happened.

I twisted myself to meet the blurred form that was already on my side, throwing my leg in an explosive kick to change my trajectory.

 _"Geppo (Moon Step)-"_

A furry paw slashed across my face, and I was swatted out from the air. My body made a crater on the ground, and I had to quickly roll away from the meteoric form that followed close by.

When the blur reappeared right in front of me an instant later, I figured that I didn't have the luxury to monologue anymore.

Things after that, became _fun._

Claws ripped open my skin each time I intercepted an incoming strike with my fists, crushing injuries were just powered through by both of us, complex and fast paced katas were executed by bloodied and increasingly beaten bodies, and the world around us was slowly being destroyed by the strength of the impacts.

"SUPERB!" I screamed with a broad smile on my face. Holy shit, I didn't even know I could exert this level of physical strength when I went all out, my body was moving so fast that it was literally affecting the balance of my forms. How much more could I go if I release the seals?... I made a note for later introspections; I got to train without the seals sometimes, so I can get used to my maximum output; hell, I don't even know what it is anymore!

Whitey's form wasn't a blur to my eyes anymore, in fact, a lot of things were quickly starting to make sense _because_ of my eyes, a lot of _very interesting_ things.

I ducked under his elbow strike and buried my fist on his damaged side. He stumbled back, his paw causing the ground to crack slightly, but quickly reentered the fight. Invading his guard again, I delivered a punch to his stomach, making him slide backward… and fall on one knee.

"That's enough," I said, licking the blood that was pouring from the cuts on my face. "You were fucking incredible buddy, but it looks like your body can't handle that trick for too long."

And what a trick it was, _what a fucking trick it was!_ I honestly feel like giggling manically right now- fuck, it all made so much sense.

And my eyes, my glorious fucking eyes; it allowed me to see that, to analyze that, and to _learn_ that.

These little gems are getting stronger.

Whitey, like the stubborn asshole that he is, just let out another sonic roar and dashed at me, swinging his paw in a brutal strike.

I caught it with my bloody hand. The impact made my body slide to the side, leaving deep impressions on the ground. But I held it.

"So… how does that trick go again?" I commented casually, closing my fingers between his. "Like _this!?"_

His enormous paw became a bloody stump as my own _Touki_ erupted from my core.

...

Light.

My entire world became _too motherfucking light._

I stood like I always did, but it felt like I was about to float, each of my breaths expanded my chest so easily that it felt like it was about to pop, every single one of my muscles immediately relaxed, the ever-present tension required to fight against the restraining seals melting away into nothing. The magic on the seals themselves went crazy trying to adapt to my new level of strength.

It…tingles. Every inch of me was tingling, like small bolts of electricity were trailing under my skin. And all the while, a bubbling feeling of _energy_ made me want to _move_ , and _never stop moving._

It took titanic effort to stay still.

I opened my eyes, realizing only now that I had closed them. The world never seemed so clear and vivid to me before. I could see the beauty of picturesque snow-covered forest around me, the intrinsic details of every flake of snow as they fell softly from the sky, the contrast between Whitey's pristine snow-white fur against the dirt and blood that clung to him.

And on my head, in my mind, in the martial arts knowledge provided to me by the Warlord's essence; a lot of concepts began to _fit,_ like jigsaw puzzles that finally found their missing pieces.

This…

This changes _everything._

Whitey let out a painful grunt as he cradled his paw to his chest, taking a careful step back, but keeping his eyes on me.

I gave him an eager smile. "So, how is it going to be?" Fuck, even my voice _radiated_ pure strength.

He seemed to actually consider things for a moment before he straightened his shoulders and roared defiantly.

As expected…

"All right," I commented to myself, failing to keep the eagerness from my voice, there was _SO_ much I wanted to test. "I think I'll start…with the classics."

Whitey took the opportunity provided by my babbling of course; he gambled on a piercing paw thrust by putting all the speed he could muster behind it. From a normal perspective, his body disappeared, and an eruption of snow blasted behind where he once stood; the shockwave was so strong that it affected nearby trees and blew away a wide circle of snow from the ground. It was a magnificent attack, with outstanding speed, power, and precision; seeing it obliterating my afterimage made me appreciate how far this little bear has come.

But now it's my turn.

My feet rasped gracefully against the now wet, muddy ground as I slid to a stop; putting me on a spread leg stance beside my opponent. My arms moved to the side of my hip, and my hands hovered over each other in an open cup.

"Kaaa meee…" Not going to lie, I teared up a little when a blue light began to glow. _"Haaaa Meeee…"_

-0-0-0-

Like always, there was a hot maid was waiting for me at the entrance of the castle.

Hum?

"Welcome back, young master." Bowed the maid, presenting a change of clothes. "I hope you had a fruitful training."

Instead of a Russian supermodel, the maid in question was a tanned beauty with a long braid of silvery hair falling over her shoulder… and a metal helmet on her head.

… I still don't know if that's a statement or if she is way too much into her new role.

"Hey Cleria." I greeted, enjoying the way she flinched comically.

"Maid C! I already told you, it's maid C!" She bellowed, her voice came in a metallic muffed tone. "What is the point of being a secret agent if you keep shouting my name in public?"

"We're not in public." I said simply, putting on the new shirt. "By the way, where is Belinda?"

"Madam is currently taking care of Lady Araneya's sexual needs!"

What.

A quick look through the shadows told me that mother was blocking my view of the entire left wing of the castle, which told me that they were definitely _not_ fucking; she wouldn't have bothered if that was the case.

I turned my suspicious gaze at Cleria, noticing that she was standing suspiciously straight, with suspicious beads of sweat dripping suspiciously on her suspicious neck.

"Reaaally?" I asked slowly.

"Yep!" She chirped too quickly, "SO! That bright blue light! What was that?"

"… Childhood dreams being fulfilled." I took pity on her and didn't press the case, letting her lead me into the castle instead.

Cleria immediately began to subtly direct me through the longest way to my room. One of the prized ability of a professional maid was the skill to lead people to the routes they wanted them to take; this could be to trap an enemy, delay an annoying visitor, or to give a kick-ass tour of the castle. Cleria still had much to learn in terms of being a maid, but she absorbed this particular skill pretty fast.

I'm very curious about why mother put her up to it, but I guess I'd have to wait and see.

Another maid interrupted our meandering and chatted. I recognized her as Alisa, the 'delivery maid', she has a neat and useful bloodline ability that lets her know where she needed to go to find someone, provided that they were in the vicinity, so practically everybody used her to deliver something to somebody else in the castle. She's usually delivering official documents for the 'head of the household' if they were meaningless stuff, and to me, if they were important. Like she did just now.

"What is it?" Cleria asked after the other maid left.

"Kukuku," I chuckled darkly while leafing through the papers. "Never ask your master such a blunt question. If Belinda was here, she'd have your ass whipped, probably in a public place, like the main hall." Even beneath the mask, it was clear that Cleria paled. I raised my eye to a place above her shoulder. "Isn't that right, Belinda?"

Cleria let out a cute yelp and quickly hopped around, her hands going to protect her poor behind.

She found no one standing there, of course.

"Damn it, Elias!" I heard her shouting through the sound of my own laughter.

This shit will never get old!

And suddenly, my feet stopped touching the floor.

I blink and looked down to see a pair of hands holding me up by my armpits.

"What the- put me down, woman!"

"Oh my, young master! You look so tired from your training. Please let this humble maid assist you." I heard Cleria's insufferable mocking tone coming from behind.

"T-This is outrageous, an insult! A crime!" I waved my legs, stretching my feet as far as they could go, it didn't even get close to the floor, "Put me down or-or I'll tell my mother you carried me!"

"Hah! Joke's on you; she actually gave me permission!"

W-What is the meaning of this high treason!?

A few minutes later, after we both backed down and nobly prevented the prank war from starting, we were walking down the corridors. I was reading the document a bit more carefully.

"… Seriously, what is it?" Cleria couldn't keep it inside.

"More of the usual for these times," I said separating the damage reports, complaints, and pleading for help from the various smaller noble families. "The Crimson Sabbath is causing trouble again; that's all it seems to be happening lately."

Silvana Purson made it good on her promise of 'raising hell', and it could be said that she did an almost _too_ good of a job on it. Now, after only a few months on the loose, she had an ever growing number of followers converting in a budding organization/movement.

It's impossible to deny the appeal of what she preaches to the regular devil; the desire to rebel against the established order is more potent on a devil than it is on a human, couple that with her call to let loose the primal demonic instincts and urges that the modern devil holds back subconsciously, and completely disregard the veil of civility that devil society has been adopting since the Great War ended, and it's easy to see why so many devils are joining her.

For an ignorant devil, that could be seen as the ultimate path of rebellion and freedom, however, a savvy devil knows what it truly is.

Devils, as a race, always follow the strongest devil, if there as an unquestionable power ruling over society that tells them to act like humans, then they will do it. Sure, they will always want to rebel, but it'll only happen if they feel powerful enough, otherwise they would usually obey. That's is how the Satans managed to 'humanize' many devils living today, and the Evil Piece system only accelerated that process.

But now, that seemingly unbeatable power ruling society is being challenged by another, and quite successfully I might add. So, not only are they losing face due to the seeming loss in their strength, but also many devils are starting to follow that new rising power.

Silvana Purson and her new organization, the Crimson Sabbath, had achieved more success in destabilizing the Satans' power in a few months than the Old Satans Faction had managed to do in centuries.

But to be fair, the Satans and their new way of life won't be defeated that easily; in fact, the only reason the Sabbath was so successful in the first place was because they have an utterly untraceable, unblockable and infallible means of teleportation/evacuation/and revival; it's called 'lil ol me and my broken binder essence'. Silvana herself has already been killed two times, one by Lucifer himself, and the other by the _combined might of the four Satans._

They _do not_ fuck around when it comes to direct opposition that is not financed by them. _Precisely,_ because of the damage it could do to their image.

Of course, the fact that Silvana went against Satans and 'survived' twice only boosted her image, and I imagine they're scratching their heads to figure out how she keeps coming back, I bet they think its related to the Grail.

Anyway, I don't know what the Old Satan Faction will do after they get out of their shock, but if I were them, I would capitalize in the chaos to put pressure in the political side, to attack Satan's authority from multiple fronts.

Either way, if things continue like that, I don't think the Satans will be able to negotiate a peace treaty between the factions when the time comes, or at least it won't go as smoothly as it went in canon. Not with Silvana slowly chipping away at their image of invincibility like that.

"Hohhh, They're messing with the Agares' sky mining operation, this is bound to make a few people lose their shits."

"What the-" I exclaimed, snapping my head to see Cleria leaned on the wall, reading _my_ documents. A quick look at my hands showed that they were empty. "…That's just disrespectful."

"It's your fault for mental monologuing in the middle of the corridor." She said, not looking up from the papers.

"I'm in my own damn house. I can mental monologue wherever I want!" I huffed. "Now give it back!"

"Sure." She said handing it over. "There is a personal letter for you, by the way."

"Nosy maid," I grumbled, starting to walk again as I checked the letter.

…

Oh Ho Ho Ho!

"What?" I heard Cleria asking.

"Nothing! It's just that the new maid's on her way."

"New mai-Wait, we are getting a new maid!?"

After much banter and diversion, I finally arrived at my room, ready to see what my mother was planning.

Knowing her, it was probably another handmade present, after seeing me wear a sweater made by her own hands, she has become obsessed with seeing me using the things she made... A little too much obsessed, but me and Belinda are working on that. I didn't mind too much because she is getting quite good at crafting things, especially clothes, and I don't mind wearing the ones she makes me; I even prefer it.

It's either that, or a weird sexual thing; 'Bella' has become famous throughout the castle for being the heir's official pet, to the dismay of many maids who wanted the position. We even went as far as to get her an official concubine license, which is hard to get if you're not a member of the ancient concubine order; she's oddly proud of it. This only served to further open the gates of mother's repressed perversion, and prompt me and her to have even bolder escapades. There is a chance that whatever is behind this door would make me blush violently.

I would embrace either option with open arms.

So I open the doors.

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

...Alright, I did not expect that.

As far as birthdays go, it was quite a sad display; the decorations and food were on point, most likely due to Belinda's knowledge about human culture, and there was a large pile of presents fit for a spoiled rich kid that I am, but it didn't change the fact that there was only two, now three people clapping. It was the definition of a friendless kid birthday.

It was perfect for me, but...

"What-" Mother silenced me by pulling me in a hug and circling me around.

"CONGRATULATIONS ELY! MOMMY IS SO HAPPY THAT YOU EXIST!" She proceeded to drench my face with wet kisses; I had to push her head away to speak.

"Down woman! Come on!" Even away from me she's still making kissy faces and trying to close the distance. "What is that all about!?"

I never had a birthday. Devils don't do birthdays. There are celebrations related to the children, but they were more to commemorate milestones than the day they were born. In the pillars' perspective, a human birthday is just a weird thing that humans do…

No wait, Riser's family has adopted the tradition, and according to Sona's letters, and Rias' occasional ones, their family also started to celebrate it.

Ah shit, this is a new trend, isn't it?

"It's called birthday; I doubt you know what it is." Belinda approached from the side; she's still dressed in her maid uniform, but a beer can in her hand showed how casual she was feeling. "My fault really, if I knew how much the Lady would like the idea, I'd have mentioned it earlier, it would give us time to call all your friends. But as it is…" She leaned close and laid a tender kiss on my cheek. "Happy tenth birthday Elias."

"YUP!" Mother stopped trying to eat my face and pulled me directly to the marshmallow zone, not caring if this would ruffle her expensive dress. "The idea of celebrating the day you were born is brilliant! It was the best day that ever was!" She pulled me up to look me in the eyes. "Did you like it!?"

"I loved it," I answered automatically. How could I not? Anything that makes mother this happy is a welcome addition to my life. "Thank you, mother. I love you."

That got me a happy scream and another trip to marshmallow zone; I stayed there for a while with the world rotating around me.

"Oh right! CAKE!" My mother suddenly remembered.

I was soon deposited before an enormous cake as tall as I was, with ten candles flickering at the top. Mother was hugging me from behind while bouncing with excitement.

"Mommy had to ask the cooks to make it this time, but I will start to learn how to bake it right away! Next year it will be mommy's cake, _mommy promises!"_

Alright, I'll admit that she's…a little too much into it.

Cleria was the only one affected by seeing mother going unhinged like that. Belinda and I were used to much worse from her, so we took it in stride.

"You have to blow the candles," Belinda explained calmly, coming to sit on the side of the table. "Oh, and make a wish, don't forget to make a wish while doing it."

"Yay Ely, go!" Mother beamed with the voice of a soccer mother about to bear witness to her son winning the junior league.

A wish?

Fuck, I already have most of what I want, and all I needed now was time and privacy to work on my schemes and gather power, but it feels wrong to wish something like that on birthday candles… and I suppose wishing for horrible things to happen to Lucifer's wife is also off the table; _I_ want to be the one doing horrible things to her.

So what to wish from my birthday candles…

…

What about…

 _I wish to have an interesting year._

And I exhaled, blowing my very first birthday candles in this life.

"AHhhhh!" Mother gushed with her voice with full-on emotion. She lowers herself until her pretty face was right next to mine. "Ne ne, what did you wish, Ely!?"

I looked at Belinda who just shrugged her shoulders, Cleria's expression was impossible to see, but her attention was mostly directed to the cake.

I sent a boyish smile to mother and bopped our noses together.

"I wished for Bella's naked body in a gift wrap."

 _"Is that it!?"_ Mother shouted almost instantly, jumping to her feet while Belinda coughed and spilled her drink. "If that is what my child desires, then _MOMMY WILL FULFILL IT!"_

Both maids gasped loudly as the Lady of the house proceeded to rip away her own dress.

An honest smile formed on my lips as I watched the following shenanigans, between the vast increase in my personal power and this; the year is bound to be _interesting._

* * *

Fight Moves:

 _Omote Renge (Front Lotus)_ is from Naruto

 _Ryūsui Gansai-ken (Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist)_ is from One Punch Man

 _Full Contact Karate_ and _Renewal Taekwondo_ are from God of High school.

The rest are from One Piece


	21. Chapter 17

A/note: This is chapter took place during a entire year, the exact period between the scenes isn't important what is important is to know he will be twelve in the next chapter.

Also a reminder that Demons and Hellbeast are the same thing, I established that in Chapter 10. Some characters will call them Hellbeasts, others will call them demons.

* * *

Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw. back on QQ forum

Chapter 17

* * *

This was a bad idea.

No, the idea itself wasn't bad. I have been planning to visit other parts of the underworld and see how life worked in other regions for some time now, and mother has been nagging me to meet my friends more often, plus with my evil piece ceremony getting closer and closer, I would need some political points to keep my family's 'overseers' from crafting some bullshit reason to keep me from my rightful set like they did with my Mother. Not that I needed their approval to get a set of my own, but it was a family honor thing.

So, when my long-time pen pal Sona Sitri proposed a rare face-to-face meeting in the Sitri region's capital city I jumped at the opportunity.

And it was a bad idea, a very bad idea…

Not because of the city itself, no; _Bella Fiume_ is by far the most beautiful city that I ever lay my eyes on; it's structure was clearly based off of the Italian city of Venice (or perhaps it was the other way around?). It was a colorful collection of building separated by canals of crystalline water that usually did not obey common logic due to magic, and a diverse population that could range from normal modern looking individuals to JRPG-looking characters. Nor was it because of the company; Sona Sitri, even with her current inability to form proper sentences, was a very adorable and charming nine-years-old devil girl.

No, what made this a bad idea that is steadily growing into a horrible idea, was the _Death Glare_ from an angry _Satan_ at my back.

Serafall Leviathan has been accompanying us, unseen in the background, ever since Sona and I met up. I have no idea where she was, but I could feel her glare. Occasionally, I caught glimpses of her in the crowds or on some weird places, like a random window or a small hole in the ground, or dressed as a mascot for a storefront.

I could locate her easily with my shadows but…

I'm scared.

I mean, my shadow powers are not completely undetectable, that knowledge is something that I took a serious note from during my trip to Kuoh, and someone at the level of a Satan will definitely be able to feel it if I tried to do something suspicious. Hell, the fact that I could detect Leviathan's presence was already something that would look suspicious as hell for someone of my age; I'm known as a prodigy, but a normal ten-year-old devil can't be _that_ good. And there is the glare itself. The dreadful, hateful, and seemingly ever-present glare that I couldn't escape from no matter how many obstacles I put between it and me. I-I never felt something like this before, the pressure of a predator aiming at the prey's throat; it's usually the other way around with me.

It's…suffocating.

I could only fall back to my natural acting instinct and hope to whatever divine that is ok with devils that I don't freak out and blow my cover.

"T-That's the wartime museum," Sona said, pointing to a castle-like building as we slowly crossed a small bridge. "It's here that, ah, T-T-T-Th… ah hum…"

I turned to look at her and noticed that she was looking downward with a bright blush on her face… which told me that she took a look in my direction.

To give the situation some context, Sona Sitri is an incredibly intelligent girl for her age; she is very well spoken in the letters she writes. We had many interesting and complex conversations from the years we have been in contact.

But when we meet face to face in social gatherings, she usually has difficulties in forming coherent sentences. It usually takes a while before I crack her wall of shyness enough for us to talk freely.

However, today is by far the worst instance of that shyness. Part of it is no doubt the pressure she is feeling for being the organizer and host of my visit, and another… another is most definitely my fault.

I discreetly brushed my fingers against my new magical amulet, a metal piece in the shape of the Dantalion's symbol that hangs from a long cord on my neck. A pulse of magic gave me the diagnosis of the highly complex enchantment inside, showing that, despite what I had expected, it was working fine.

This was something I created to fight against the rapidly growing passive effects of my Breeder essence, because it was becoming too strong as my growth into maturity approached. Its effects were evident on the expressions and reaction of the maids of my castle. Their looks are starting to become a little too intense for my taste, my presence now proves to be too distracting for them to focus on anything else... I swear if I find another maid masturbating on my bed, or trying to steal my underwear I will… Anyway, it is becoming ridiculous.

Fighting against the essence itself yielded no results, but I manage to hide the effects of the essences behind a highly complex and undetectable glamour, essentially locking my appearance in the level that it was when the glamour was placed. It's not a perfect solution, and it would need more tweaks so it would accompany my growth as I matured, but it was the best I could do in short notice.

However, I'm still on a level that could be called distractingly beautiful, and poor Sona was getting the brunt of it.

Aaannd the glare on my back was progressively becoming heavier and colder the more embarrassed Sona looked.

D-distraction! This girl needed a distraction, both for her and for myself.

"I read about it. Tha Sitri's region was the battlefield for many military operations during the civil war, right? Is this the famous museum which became the resting place for the banner of the Bold Three Hundred?"

Sona kept her eye firmly to the ground.

"Y-Yes." She murmured quietly.

… Awkward.

"So!" I chirped, trying not to look like I was about to be vaporized. "Are we going to enter it? I remember you wrote that you found an interesting aisle in the letters."

"Y-y-yes! I-I will show you. L-let's go." She started to lead us inside with uneasy steps.

She paused at the middle of the steps, her head dropping quite a bit as she turned to face me.

"Uh, E-Elias, I-I…" She raised her purple eyes slightly before lowered them back down. "I-I'm sorry f-for being… b-boring-"

She suddenly sucks up a breath and quickly snapped her head to the side.

Ah, She noticed…

I turn my head slightly, watching the 'innocent bystanders' that compose the crowd.

It was quite common for a pillar heir to be tailed by a bodyguard or two while they are outside their ancestral home. Even when they are having a rebellious phase and don't want a bodyguard near them, there is always someone following close by, in case something happens.

In the wake of the appearance of the Crimson Sabbat and their infamous, heir-killer leader, it was only natural that the noble families would increase the protection.

But still, to fill the entire plaza with disguised agents seems a little too much even for me… but then again, we were talking about a Satan's direct family.

Sona seems to enthusiastically share my opinion. She promptly stomped her way up to the bodyguard she managed to recognize.

"What is the meaning of this mister Alfonsi!? Haven't I said I wouldn't be needing your services today!? How _dare_ you go against my orders!"

The poor guy couldn't stay in character and broke cover; he needed more training. "Um, m-milady, I…"

There was nothing left from the usual shyness I have come to expect from the little heiress currently chewing a grown ass man in front of me. I had to blink confusedly at the sight; it went against what I knew of Sona Sitri. I always thought that she had difficulties talking to people directly and could only communicate properly through letters, maybe it's because she is used to that guy?

"And not only that but you saw fit to tail us at a distance, like, like some kind of _stalker!"_ She huffed disgustedly. "You are a proud warrior of the Sitri household! To act in such an undignified matter is so, so- Wait, is that miss Udinese I see there!?" Sona's purple eyes widened with the realization, the bodyguard began to sweat. "HOW MANY OF YOU ARE STALKING US!?"

Well, at least little Sona is talking now and… and the glare on my back is getting deadlier- Oh fuck! I'm clear for wide area assault now!

Thinking fast, a plan that involved me staying as close to Sona as possible formed on my mind, and considering the current situation at hand... a grin appeared on my lips.

I practically teleported to the girl's side and grabbed her by the wrist.

"They're all over the plaza," I informed after she turns her attention back to me, my smile grew. "Let's bolt!"

So we did.

And pandemonium began.

Do you know how hard it is to catch a pair of athletic kids on a large city? A pair of kids small enough to sneak in every nook and cranny of the spider web of alleys between the buildings? If you do, then imagine if these pair of kids could use magic and knew how to parkour, imagine how much more difficult it would be.

"Young Lady, young master please wait!" One of the bodyguards nimble enough to keep up shouted.

"No way!" I mocked with laughter, still dragging Sona behind me. "Go annoy someone else!"

The circles that I left in the walls of the alley activated, he dodged that of course but was hit by the spell that came from above, because attacking from obvious directions was for losers.

We burst out from the alley with five bodyguards about to land before us, my eyes already identified a way we could use as an escape route, so I brought up my magic to deal with-

Suddenly, the ground where they're about to land shone in the blue light of a Sitri styled magical circle, then they fell deeply into a water pit that formed.

"Come on! I know a place where we can lose them!" Shouted the Sitri heiress, pulling me along.

"MILADY, PLEASE!" A bodyguard appeared out of nowhere and was instantly hit by one of Sona's expensive shoes, which she used as a projectile.

Oh. Hell. Yes.

The whole afternoon was spent like that; it was an uproarious fun time.

By the end of the afternoon, we watched as the light blue bolt of magic sailed through the air, hitting the boat that was pursuing us dead on, and turning the last two of our pursues into popsicles.

The sound of our childlike cheers could be heard throughout the city as our stolen gondola burst from one of the city many canals into the big lake in the center of it.

"We got them! We got them!" Little Sona danced, waving her hands in the air, rocking the gondola. She was barefooted, the jewelries she was wearing were mostly gone, her once pretty and elegant dress was covered with dirt and sweat, and she looked like she was having the time of her life.

"We did," I said cleaning my forehead with my arm, noticing that my shirt was now sleeveless. "I think we killed them though."

"No we didn't, they're tough." Sona sat back, still smiling widely, then her purple eyes shined as she turned to me. "You can use long distant magic circles!"

"Huh? Oh yeah, I-"

"TEACH ME!" She all but jumped to my face.

"Sure, it's really simple…"

What followed was a conversation about magic, then about the new classes we were having this year, then about the latest rating games, and then about the new technologies spreading across the underworld and the new discoveries made by Beelzebub's magic development team. We were well into gossiping about the embarrassing things we witnessed on the many high society gatherings we attended to when night finally fell.

This was the Sona I knew, the Sona I talked to all these years.

"Huh?" A small light caught my attention on the side. Soon, more lights started to appear.

I turned my head to see the population of Bella Fiume crowding the pier and noticed that many boats and ships had moved around us. Each person was casting a colorful ball of light and letting it fly up slowly to the night sky.

"What are they doing?" I asked, prompting Sona to look.

"Oh, that is just the annual Seeking Lights festi…val…" She trails off, and then jumped to her feet, rooking the gondola again. "The festival! We were supposed to- oh wait, we're already here."

I chucked at her reaction. "So, what is this Seeking Light festival anyway? I never heard anything about it."

Sona's eyes dropped, and she blushed a little. "It's a local festival, not something we really talk about because it's not really… devil-like." She takes a deep breath and explains. "It a festival to let us cast our seeking lights for the year, the light that is supposed to help you find what you seek the most, whether it's power, wealth, fame… or even…" She babbled the last word incoherently.

"What?"

"N-Nothing!" She turned her red face to me. "W-W-Would you like to try? I-It's really easy!"

"Sure, what should I do?" The lights were now converging into a slowly rising pillar; it's honestly quite beautiful.

"You make a pink ball of light and sent it upward- ah but you can't put too much power into it. It has to follow the natural magical stream that will form along with the others."

"Seems easy enough." I looked at the floating lights. "But why pink? I can see some of different colors-"

"It has to be pink!" Sona shouted uncharacteristically loud.

I turn back to her and blinked; she was facing the other direction, with her ears brightly red.

"Ooookay." I said, raising my arm and forming a pink ball of light over my hand, "Like this?"

She looked back- Yep, that's a rather bright blush. "…Yeah, like that." then, she formed her own pink ball of light and we sent them to the sky.

Or twin balls of light slowly joined the rest. The magic in the lights was blending to form a current that rises up, taking the light balls with it and making them converge into a twirling formation, the light was so intense now that a human wouldn't be able to see things clearly.

Man, this is really beautiful; I wish mother could see th-

 **DEATH**

I _clamped_ down on all my instincts. Staying in place while my _everything_ was telling me to jump into the nearest shadow and _run._ My hearing and my vision slowed to a crawl, the beating of my own heart overtook all my other senses, and the colors seem to wash out from the world…

 _I fucking forgot about her!_

I flickered my eyes to the side for just a second. But it was enough to see her.

Serafall Leviathan was standing on the border of the pier, among a cheering crowd. She was clad in a Magical Girl outfit, but a different one than the one she used on the show. She was standing utterly still, with her face locked in an expression of pure neutrality while her fixated eyes bore directly into me.

H-Holy shit she is even more pissed off now! W-Why!? What did I do!? The glare stayed the same while we were blasting bodyguards so it couldn't be it, but then what!? What could have pissed her off _more_ than me literally dragging Sona around!?

"Hey Elias, are you ok?"

"Y-Yes, I'm fine…"

Is it because of my family? Did she think I'm a potential enemy!? FUCK I knew I was treading dangerous waters by interacting with the close family of two of the Satans, but I didn't have a choice! They came to me, not the other way around! It would be suspicious to dismiss them right then and there, and I definitely didn't want them saying something like 'The Dantalion boy is an A grade asshole!' to their sibling; it could bring unwanted attention-

"You don't look fine Elias, maybe with should get back… Look! the pier is really close-"

"Pier!? No pier!" I snapped back to Sona and forced a smile. "I'm perfectly fine, honestly!"

"...If you say so." She conceded but narrowed her eyes with the blatant suspicion only a child would have.

Great, now the younger sister is also onto me!

I have to compose myself quickly, and, and-Distraction! That's it! I needed another distraction!

Luckily, I came prepared.

"So!" I announced, pulling a chessboard from my shadow storage. "You always boasted that no one on your household could beat you in chess anymore. Care to put that to the test?" I stated my challenge while trying to ignore the Satan wishing for my violent demise. This would not only distract Sona, but it would buy me some time to think about how to get out of the situation.

The Sitri heiress' eyes narrowed again, this time in pure eagerness.

… And so, on the calm waters of Bella Fiume's central lake, on a stolen gondola illuminated by a thousand different lights, and under the burning glare of an furious Satan; Sona Sitri and I played chess.

I admit, Leviathan's glare distracted me quite a bit, so I forgot to play on Sona's level.

Thankfully, she didn't seem to mind the loss, in fact, she looked happier for it, and quickly asking for another game.

Look like I gave her the chess rival she always wanted.

-0-0-0-

A squeak.

I heard a squeak.

And not the fun kind of squeak that I get from fondling mother in just the right way; it was an animal kind of squeak.

Opening one eye from the part of my face that wasn't submerged in the land of warm marshmallows, I saw a close up of Belinda's naked form, and the rest of the dark room above. Belinda has also been awaked by the squeaking, but didn't take any action and has yet to open her eyes. Mother's cute snoring from behind indicated that she, unlike us, was fast asleep.

The squeaking continued for a few more seconds, and Belinda and I waged a brutal, unmoving war to see who would be the one that had to deal with it.

...Fucking lazy maid, exploiting my curiosity.

Sliding my upper body off the marshmallow prison, and purposefully ignoring Belinda's victorious smile, I raised myself until I could look past my mother's sleeping form.

Behind her, on top of the nightstand, stood a squirrel.

"My Emperor!"

Fuck no.

"My Emperor! Please wait! There is a situation on the motherland!" The squirrels squeaked

Of all the hellbeasts in my forest, why did it have to be them?!

Urg, fine.

I pushed myself to a sitting position.

"What is it?" I ask mentally to the creature so I didn't wake mother; she would probably hug it to death.

The squirrel's language isn't exactly something a humanoid could reproduce. It consists mostly of squeaks and body language, but I could understand it somehow. I kinda suspect that it's the work of my essence, but it didn't work with any other marked hellbeasts, so it could be one of the squirrel's quirks.

"My Emperor! One of the special intruders had entered the forest, my Battle-Brothers are keeping it at bay, but those filthy lupines are getting restless, we fear they might intervene with our righteous duty soon."

I groaned, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Great, a special intruder, just what I needed. These are the people I had ordered the hellbeasts to stall instead of kill, either because their death would be troublesome for me, or because I wanted to deal with them myself-Wait it was an _intruder_ , so why didn't the alarm…

I was awake in an instant, flexing my magic to the seals painted on the walls where I could access the center of the castle's magical defenses.

Belinda felt that, of course.

"Elias." She whispers in a serious tone, rising next to me. "What is happening?"

"Someone tried to teleport in, they managed to bypass the alarms," I informed her, analyzing the data with my magical senses. "But they couldn't bypass the spell jamming wards, it threw them into the forest."

But still, a teleporting spell that could bypass the alarm framework that _I_ designed; that's some serious stuff right there.

And it was from a special intruder too, who could it be? A member of Leona's gang? One of Silvanna's people? Or somebody else?

Belinda wasted no time and quickly jumped out of bed, an armored maid uniform formed around her like a symbiote. "I'll set the alarm and see to it myself, you stay here."

"No wait, let me check something first."

"Mmm, What is going on?" Mother whined in an adorable sleepy voice that made me want to pat her head, but I already shifted my perspective to one of my squirrels.

"HOLD THE LINE, HOLD THE FUCKING LINE YOU PATHETIC SONS OF OTTERS! WE MUST _NOT_ KILL THE ENEMY WITH ALL OUR STRENGTH!"

"SIR! IT'S TOO STRONG! WE HAVE TO HAVE OUR EQUIPMENT BACK OTHERWISE WE'LL-"

"THE GOD EMPEROR REQUIRES YOU TO FIGHT NAKED, SO YOU _WILL_ FIGHT NAKED SOLDIER! ELSE I'LL RIP YOUR HEAD OFF"

"Y-YES COMMISSAR!"

…This wasn't my idea, none of this was my idea, I swear. I don't know how they got this way, they just gained sapience someday and now there are some trees in the forest that were actually the squirrels' hive cities.

It also wasn't my idea to become their god emperor; I just had to intervene when they were waging a losing war of survival against every other species of the forest, and tried to end it all by kamikaze-nuking the forest to oblivion; the ass kicking they received was so great and memorable that their entire civilization swore undying loyalty to me.

They have been nothing but a headache since.

Putting the Game Workshop's squirrels aside, I took a look on the person they were fighting against, and managed to catch their entire front line being obliterated by a dark bolt of energy. That made me raise a metaphorical eyebrow, it takes some serious firepower to kill even one squirrel, let alone an army of them.

Then the spell dissipated, and I saw who it was.

"AGRH! Get away from me you little rats!" Shouted a pretty girl with vibrant red-hair and aquamarine eyes, she's waving around a large bubble of conceptual destruction like she was a water bender.

Rias Gremory …Great … Just fucking great. After MONTHS of avoiding a pissed off Leviathan, who suddenly developed a stalker-like interest in me just because I hang out with her sister once, now I had to deal with _yet another_ Satan sibling.

A Satan sibling that was about to be killed by the looks of it, not by the squirrels, of course, these guys will follow my orders to a religious degree, but by the invisible wolves circling around the trees. It seems the fight has spread into their territory, and they aren't very happy with that.

I sighed and shook my head, this is going to get the Lucifer on my ass; I just knew it.

"False alarm Belinda, it's not an enemy."

I figured appearing there myself would raise some questions, so I made a guard patrol diverge from their route enough for them to 'happen' to find the lost heiress. After they all left, the wolves jumped on the squirrels, and the squirrels pulled out their plasma weaponry and power armors and started beating them back.

Less than an hour later the Dantalion family was officially greeting the Gremory heiress.

Mother immediately knelt in front of the girl, inspecting her injuries.

"Oh my! Are you ok sweetie?" She asked gently, pushing the red-haired head to the side to inspect a shallow cut there, Rias could only blush at the attention of the stunningly beautiful woman... and at said woman's state of dress.

"I-It's alright Lady Dantalion, it just a scratch!"

"Please sweetie, you may call me aunt Araneya! Now, hold still, these need to be treated."

The tiny redhead squeaked not unlike the squirrels from earlier when mother began the treatment. Now, very few devils know about or are even capable to use healing spells; our natural energy is just too volatile for it. But there is a common technique that serves as a pseudo healing spell for lesser injuries and exhaustion, it consisted mostly of using your own demonic energy to coax another devil's demonic energy toward self-healing. It could also be used to fill up another devil's energy reserves if they were low. This is the technique used by Rias on Issei in canon.

Mother is stupidly good at it; she could do with a hand on the cheek what most devils would need a naked full body contact to achieve. That was almost unnerving to watch… I wonder if this is what other people feel when _I_ pull a mindboggling act without much effort?

Furthermore, the fact that she could even use this technique on Rias was also very telling of her feelings towards the girl. She is essentially sending her demonic energy inside the girl's body, an energy that is extremely reactive toward a devil's emotions, so if she had even the slightest animosity toward the heiress, the energy could react badly and end up causing internal injuries or even worse, but that didn't even show signs of happening.

This is good; if Rias told that to her family, it'd be another point on the Dantalion's favor.

"There you go, how are you feeling now sweetie?"

"I… I'm fine." Rias avoided my mother's gaze, blushing. "T-Thank you."

I judged that to be an appropriate time to send the puppet forward.

"You are far away from home, young lady." Said the puppet, stepping in. "We were lucky to find you when we did, this land is very unforgiving to outsiders, especially at this time of the night. That was very foolish of you."

Rias, as expected, pouted in the face of authority, but she answered all of the same. "I'm sorry Lord Dandelion, I won't do it again."

I can imagine what she was doing here, the traveling clothes and backpack are a dead giveaway, I just needed. to confirm it. So, I commanded the puppet to ask her.

"Now, may I inquire you about the reason for your visit?" She turned her face away like the stubborn child she is, mother giggled at that. "Do your parents know you are here?"

That did the trick.

"Don't tell my parents!" She babbled quickly, "Please!" Now she is sending puppy dog eyes to the puppet.

I wanted to roll my eyes. Running away from home, really Rias? That is _so_ human.

I made the puppet blink. "Well, this is a delicate situation you see, I can't just-" Rias actually jumped and grabbed the puppet's pants.

"Please Lord Dantalion I can explain I…" She looks around for a reason before her eyes fell on me. "That's right! Elias and I were planning a sleepover! And… and the reason my parents can't know about it is because… because- because my mom's birthdays is coming! And I'm going to make her a present in secret, Elias is going to help me!"

Two watering aquamarine eyes send me a pleading look.

…Alright, time to bite the bullet, but she better say nice things about us to her parents!

"Indeed father, we were making plans for this," I said, but I added a jab at the end. "But _someone_ forgot to tell me the date she was going to show up."

The Gremory heiress rubbed the back of her head with awkward laughter.

I made the puppet protest one last time.

"Mm? I didn't know the Gremory celebrated birthdays-" I didn't expect mother to cut in.

"Oh shush dear husband this is not the time." Hoooly shit! she is _interacting_ with it! How many years has it been since she even looked at its general direction? "You can stay for as long as you like sweetie…" I could see her face trembling and I knew that her Lady Mask was about to fall. "Ahh, Mommy's so happy one of Ely's friends come to visit! I was starting to get worried!" So _that'_ s the reason.

She pulled Rias into her bounciness, making the girl's entire body turn into the same color as her hair. Yep, that's what happens when Araneya Dantalion hugs you while wearing a semi-transparent nightwear, unforgettable experience anytime it happens.

"Very well then." I made the puppet say, keeping its eyes away from mother. It didn't deserve to have her image in its mind. "We will get a guest room ready in no time." It nodded to some maids on the side and they promptly left. "Elias, please take care of miss Gremory until then."

"Yes, father." I said, stepping closer to save Rias before mother could cause any more irreparable damage to her sexuality. "Shall we?"

Soon, we were walking down the shadowy corridor leading to my room... with mother and Belinda close behind. Mother was creeping close to the shadow, using them to cover her form and silence her steps and occasional giggle. Belinda didn't bother with any fancy tricks to hide herself, she just activated the maids' natural background-blending aura, and thus was better hidden than mother.

"Thanks… _Ely!"_ Ah hell, she heard my mother using my pet name. "I knew I could count on you!"

"Yeah, a little warning first would be nice," I grumbled. "Why did you run away from home?"

She gasped dramatically. "What-I didn- I didn't run away from home!" a burst of loud exaggerated laughter followed her words, "That's a funny joke Ely, only you, Hahaha!" she punctuated this by slapping my shoulder.

My unamused look held strong until her defenses grumbled.

"Alright! Fine! Stop looking at me like that!... It's my parents ok. They were being too…" She made a frustrated face. "Too _much_ lately! It's always Rias do this, Rias do that. You have to learn this, It's essential that you memorize this, you must do better, you must get stronger. All that, all the time, all day long!" She gradually raised her voice as she went on. "We don't even _talk_ anymore, it's always 'how is your progress going', or 'your tutors are saying you're lacking on this aspect', no 'nice going memorizing half the library Rias!', no 'good job for finally starting to control your power Rias!', no 'how was your day Rias?'. It's like they don't _care_ anymore! And to top it all off, I can't even leave the castle! Can you believe this that!?"

I waited for the girl to finish ranting before stepping closer to her panting form, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's because of the Sabbat," I explained quietly. "With them actively aiming for the nobility, it's only a matter of time before they target the pillars. They are just worried about you."

"…I know that." She croaked out in a tearful tone. "I'm not dumb, I heard the rumors… But still…"

"I know," I said, pulling her closer, we didn't exactly hug, and she didn't exactly cry, but she looked better by the end.

"By the way," I asked as we started walking again, "How did you get here? And why did you come here in the first place, I thought you and Sona were closer." I'm more interested in the first question, to be honest.

"Oh, I useeeeed…" She stretched the word as she checked her pockets. "This!" She announced, producing a piece of paper and showing it to me. "Don't tell anyone about it, I stole this from my brother; it's one of mister Ajuka's thingy."

There was a magical circle for a teleportation spell drawn on the paper; only it was unlike any other teleportation spells I ever saw. The framework was cleverly complex while looking wonderfully simple, the amount of energy this thing could hold was incredible, and there was next to no magical leak on the final output, the end result should raise the quality of the spell while keeping the energy consumption to a minimum, and the simple trigger should allow anyone to use the spell regardless of the mastery level of the one casting it.

I was expecting some exclusive spells to stay at the hand of the Satans, but something like this…no wonder Beelzebub is considered the best spellcaster in the Underworld; it goes above and beyond what I was expecting from him. It also makes me a little proud that my own jamming wards were able to counter it. If Rias had used this while aiming for any other castle in the Underworld, even, dare I say, on the non-devil-controlled parts, she'd get there without fail, all castles expect the Dantalion castle.

… Better make sure she doesn't comment on that to her brother.

I noticed that she hasn't stopped speaking. Oops, got a little distracted there.

"… And because of that I couldn't go to Sona, weird right? But its better this way, she'd have nagged the entire time if I did. And the rest… Hum, Seek-chan is training on the Human world, and Sai… Sai's been weird lately…"

"So, I'm your last option." I felt kinda relieved by this.

"Yup!" She agreed gleefully, then seem to realize what she implied. "N-Not that I don't like you or anything Ely! I-It's just that I know them for longer, so they'd be sad if I went to you first. I like you Ely, honestly!" She shouted. And yet again only realized what she had implied later. "N-N-Not _Like-like_ you, m-more like l-like you, you know, e-even though… Garhhhh do you get what I'm saying!?"

"Yes, Rias I get it." I let the dramatic pause prolong for a few moments, then opened one of my 'bullshit smiles'; which it's what I call the smiles that makes my mother, quote: 'See flowers and shooting stars in the background when they happen.' end quote. "You _like_ me."

 _"Guh!"_ Rias became the color of her hair again, and I swear a little bit of steam burst out from her ears.

I, as the unquestionable lord of shadows, can hear anything that happens within the shadows close to me, but I didn't even need that power to hear mother's high-pitched squeal. Luckily, Rias was too distracted to notice.

Yes mother, you can cross the 'watch your son making a cute girl fluster' from your wish list. Ah, the things I do for you…

"A-A-A-ANYWAY!" She shouted and turned back, dropping her backpack on the floor, "I-I also have another reason for coming here, the biggest reason, here!" She's still very red, but seemingly able to rein back some control as she turned to me with a mischievous look. "BEHOLD!" And she pulled something from the bag.

"... Dvds?"

 _"Anime."_ She whispers conspiratorially. "You're the only one of my friends that I still haven't introduced to the world of anime! This can't continue!"

Anime… and to think I have been to Japan itself, and the possibility of watching anime didn't even cross my mind… granted I was lewding two beautiful women at the time, but still.

When was the last time I watched some good old anime? Fuck, I don't think I ever watched it in this life yet.

"Anime?" I said slowly, an honest smile forming on my lips. "That sounds interesting."

And then we finally reach my room, where the binging began.

In the end, Rias ended up staying with us for an entire week. I had the puppet write a letter to her father on the same night she arrived of course, because not doing so would be extraordinarily stupid. The Gremory's response was sending a squad of five of their strongest battle maids to temporarily join the staff during Rias' stay, together with daily secret inspections from one of the Gremory Head's own peerage. All of that went completely off Rias' head, she believed she had fooled her parents till somebody came to take her back.

The Gremory's actions were, honestly, a bit insulting, but understandable given the history between our families. And it all paid off _massively_ a few weeks later when the puppet reported that the suspicions about the Dantalion were all but cleaned, with only a token effort remaining. They even started to discretely pull back their spies from the castle's staff, planning to leave of about a third of total behind.

And Rias… she is ok, definitely a fun girl to hang out with, but it was good that she left when she did, because she had decided that she didn't need to use the guest room when we could perfectly well share a bed together, which meant I couldn't share a bed with mother, which meant mother was about to explode due to sexual frustration by the time the heiress finally left.

All in all, it was a fun week.

-0-0-0-

Say what you will about the pillar families, but we do know how to travel in style.

The Phenex family's main carriage, for example, was a beautiful construct made from dark wood and armored with many sheets of living metal. Its color depicted the crimson and gold of the house it belonged, with a stylized version of the house's symbol painted on the side. The humongous vehicle was pulled by a pair of equally large Furcas thoroughbred shires; they are war machines shaped like horses. Not only can they provide protection for the carriage by themselves, but also pull it to speeds surpassing those of a race car if the need arises.

The insides were the size of a wide limo, and decorated like a seven-star hotel's presidential suite. Complete with a full complement of food, drinks, entertainment, and the finest cushions. Everything about it would cause jealousy in the heart of the filthiest of human billionaires.

Not bad for the wealthiest of the Pillars, If I say so myself.

"That was so fun!" Little seven-years-old Ravel Phenex gushed, looking very much like a princess with her blonde curls and puffy red dress. She was surrounded by the purchases she made today. "Ne ne Ely! Will you come shop together with me again!? You're much better than my boring older brother!"

"Sure!" I said, patting her in the head to her delight. Honestly with my mood right now, I would probably do anything if the person asks me nicely. "But you shouldn't talk about Riser like that just because he is a little grumpy. You need him to leave the castle remembered? Got to pamper him a little bit."

"But he's being a grumpy face meanie!" She protested.

"I know he is being a grumpy face dumb meanie, but he is your brother and you already kicked him in the shin, so now you must forgive him."

"But Riser is a grumpy face dumb smelly meanie! I don't want to forgive him."

"Yes yes, Rise is grumpy face dumb smelly cantankerous-"

The girl giggled. "What does cantaketou means?"

"It means… grumpy." That caused more giggles

The grumpy face dumb smelly cantankerous meanie that was boiling on the background exploded.

"ENOUGH!" Riser screamed, pointing at me. "YOU! _Traitor!_ I will remember this betrayal for the rest of my life! I shall whisper about it on my last breath!" his finger moved to little Ravel. "And YOU, how _dare_ you!? My minion came all the way from the far-off lands of the Dantalion's region to visit The Great Me and you greedily hog his entire day to yourself! We were supposed to go hunting demons today! Not buy frivolous stuff like _toys_ or _dresses!"_

"Shut up, stupid brother!" Ravel stuck her tongue to the increasingly angry Riser "How do you know he hasn't come to meet me instead! We're going to marry someday you know!"

I actually blinked at that. I didn't know where she took this idea from; looking at my family's situation, my chances of marrying a Phenex, one of the biggest allies of the Gremory, were very slim; my family is still too much of a security risk for this to happen, even if most of the suspicions had already been cleared. The marriage talks usually starts for real when a pillar kid reaches twelve and gain their set of evil pieces, but considering the current political climate, and the paths it'll most likely go in the future, I say my engagement, almost surely, will be with-

Ravel interrupted my thought by jumping on my lap.

"See!" She shouted victoriously. "I fit in his lap! We were meant to be together!"

… Well, she certainly knows what she wants.

"W-What are you talking about! You are _small;_ you fit on everybody's lap! _There is no logic in your argument!"_ That is rich coming from him. "Listen, Elias came to visit the Great Me, so we could _hang out together,_ and you are wasting our time!"

I did come to visit Riser, but it wasn't to hang out. I came because the brat told me that his family finally taught him the secret ritual to make phoenix tears, so I came here to steal that knowledge. The only reason I remained was because my mood was so good from finally learning the secrets of the devilkind's super elixir, that I don't particularly mind dealing with Riser for a few days.

"Hey, the day isn't really over yet, we could just spar or something when we get to the castle." I offered, and to my amazement, Riser mood did a one-eighty.

"AHA! so you wish to prove your worth against my might! As expected of the Great Riser Phenex's minion!" He beat his chest proudly. "But I must warn you that I'm not the same person you fought before, you aren't dealing with an average Phenex anymore-"

"Stupid bother is gonna lose."

 _"Silence_ Ravel!"

I chuckled at the exchange. "Well, if all you plan to do is use fire bullets and flame weapons you're really going to lose." I had to double take when I saw the look on his face. "Wait, Are you really planning to use just that!? I already established that it doesn't work! You have to add some variety to your spells man, try to use ice or something."

 _"Never!_ Fire is the pride and joy of the Phenex family, The Great Me shall achieve victory using only our ancestral element!"

Ravel raised her head to look at me. "See? My stupid brother is going to lose."

"Why you!"

And the sibling bickering continued. I must say I'm impressed at the level of sass little Ravel was displaying, she used to be quite timid the last time I visited, about a year ago, when we were formally introduced. I wonder what changed?

"If you going to insist on your fire tricks, you could at least be creative with them, just… I don't know, combine the two and make flaming sword bullets or something…" I tried to suggest, but I don't think Riser heard me over the growing argument. "Ah forget it!"

On the corner of the carriage, I began to hear the sound of a soft giggle, I turned my head to see the last member of our little group, giggling at the antics of the fiery siblings.

A smile formed on my face; good, she must learn that the other pillars devil are just normal people just like the rest of the devils, she's still too nervous when she gets close to any member of nobility other than me, and she must get used to them if she wanted to stick close to me.

That's why I took her with me in the first place.

"What the-hey you! Are you _laughing_ at me!?"

 _"Hih!"_

And looks like Riser needs murdering!

You know what? It's not me who is going to do the murdering this time.

"I-I'm sorry my lord it was not my intention-"

"Elias!" He turned to me, completely ignoring the trembling girl. "What is the meaning of this!? You are the great Riser Phenex's minion! For your family to send such a pathetic retainer is an insult to both you and The Great Me! To think this trash there has the gall to call herself your bodyguard… _hn!_ I will do you a favor and generously provide a true warrior of the Phenex family so you can ditch this useless little girl."

"... Oi, Riser, you sure like to shit through your mouth sometimes" Ara? Little Ravel went stiff because of my tone; only Riser to managed to get me this riled up unintentionally. "Reiko may still be an apprentice maid, but her combat skills are unquestionable. I won't have you insulting her in my presence anymore."

Riser huffed a breath. "You're still unreasonable as always Elias, I'm telling you that I will provide you with a much better warrior than this no-name child. Just take it and be happy!"

"Well look at you all big, and strong, and telling me what to do. It's almost like you forgot who you're dealing with." We bored our glare at each other, neither of us yielding an inch. Fuck, if this keeps up, I wouldn't be able to hold back and will pulverize him myself, and that would defeat the purpose… fine! I'll let him have it this time. "If you have doubts about her strength, then test her yourself! If you find her to be insufficient then I'll take your warrior."

"EHHH!?" Reiko squeaked on the side. Shush sweetie, I'm making you defend your honor by manipulating an immortal devil into trying to kill you.

"Hoh? Interesting…" Riser was looking pretty smug from his tiny, pathetic victory in the glaring contest. "So, The Great Me just have to crush her to make you see reason hum?" He dropped a predatory look on Reiko, making her squeak again.

Oh, I'm going to enjoy this.

"U-Uh, p-please wait Phenex-sama!" Reiko tried, her nervousness made her shift back to her native language, which is a small _faux pas_ given that a devil should always use the language that devil of a higher station is using if they were in the same room. "Ah… um… E-Elias-sama what should I do!?" She looked desperately at me, I mouthed her a 'good luck' and sent her a thumbs up before Riser got in front of her and blocked the vision. "Ph-Phenex-sama, I didn't mean to come out as insulting, please let's talk about this!"

Riser didn't bother talking; he just pounced.

Now, if someone is being attacked by a pillar devil in close quarters, they are generally pretty much fucked, even if the pillar devil in question is a child. We were all well-trained little buggers and genetically superior to a normal devil in every way possible, plus if the pillar devil attacking is a Phenex then the person is double fucked because the tiny fucker attacking them is pretty much immortal.

People react differently to a situation like this. Some say, "Fuck that!" and try to run, others get a bravery sickness and try to fight back, and some just stay still and accept that they are fucked. People usually fall in one of these three categories.

Reiko? Well, her pupils' shrunk until they were pinpoints, her demonic energy sparked, the storage seal tattooed on her arm shone brightly, and she ducked under Riser's flaming bitchslap. When she moved next there was a silver spoon on her hand, which showed that she was kinda peeved with Riser's earlier comments.

What happened next was too gruesome to put into words, but it involved a lot of blood, fire, and ice-cream allegories.

"Hey Riser, you are ruining the cushions you dumbass!" I laughed at the flaming shitpile. Thank Satan the carriage has smoke filters.

"I-Is it over?" Ravel murmured, her hands pressed tightly over her eyes.

I draw her close and began to stroke her blonde curls, "I don't know… Is it over?" I asked the pale faced maid sitting beside me.

Reiko drew a sharp breath and let the bloody spoon fall from her hand. "I…I didn't… Oh, Satans! I lost control!"

"Relax, Riser is the kind of guy that only thinks straight after a death or two. Isn't that right, Riser?"

"Hn!" A newly regenerated Phenex aggressively grumbled as he dusted his clothes, the excessive amount of blood and burn marks in the area around him only accentuated how immaculate he looked. "You are too clever for your own good, my minion."

Meh, not really, that was third-grade manipulation right there.

"A-Ah, Riser-sama, please forgive me for this insolence I-I shouldn't have-"

"You!"

 _"HIH!"_

Riser nodded at the maid before announcing. "The great Riser Phenex acknowledges your strength! You may thank me for my infinite humbleness now."

Poor Reiko just blinked confusedly "H-Hah? Um, Thank you?"

The Phenex heir scorned her meek response. "You are _Elias Dantalion's_ bodyguard. _**Speak more proudly!"**_

 _"H-Hai!"_

He huffed a smoky breath and sat down before me, or more precisely before the girl in my lap.

"Ravel, you covered your face…"

The little girl looked downcast.

"Yes."

"Never do that again, the life of a devil is full of brutality, you have to get used to the sight." He leaned back and sends her a mocking smile. "Honestly, our parents coddle you so damn much. You can't even handle a little blood."

That breathed some energy back to the little blonde girl "Well I wouldn't have to if my idiot brother didn't make such a pathetic display, what happened back then? Have you forgotten your training!?"

"What did you say!? I'lll have you know that I could have turned the table anytime! The great Riser Phenex had everything under control!

"Stop calling yourself 'great' idiot brother, it makes you sound like you're over-compensating!"

I rolled my eyes at the sibling's antics and let my hand fall on Reiko's head.

"Good work," I said, playing with her hair.

"Ely…" She whined, but still leaned to my touch. "That was mean…"

"It work didn't it?"

And the rest of the trip to Phenex castle went relatively peacefully.

… That was what I wanted to say, but the carriage stopped abruptly an hour later, still far from reaching its final destination.

I wanted to sigh in exasperation.

"What is going on?" Little Ravel asked seeing me, Riser and Reiko going deadly serious.

There was a polite knock on the blackened window.

"Dubois?" Riser asked calmly.

"Ah yes, Young Master, it's me." Came a muffled voice from the other side.

Riser cast a quick spell to lower the black tint of the window. Revealing a short middle age man with a round face and an extremely thick mustache, wearing a sharp cut butler uniform.

"Pardon for my rudeness masters, mistress." He raised a handkerchief and started to clean the sweat on his neck. "But it appears we are about to be ambushed."

"That's interesting," I commented, lazily stretching my perspective to the shadows.

"Oh." Ravel realized.

"Mmm, Is it the Sabbat?" Riser asked, cracking his neck.

I don't think it is the Sabbat, this is not their usual-

"I believe not, Young Master. There are too many of them to be a Sabbat attack." Oh, the butler was good. "Nevertheless, I came to inform you that I will be going to deal with the situation. The horses should be able to get you to the castle easily enough."

Reiko immediately stood.

"I'll be going too mister Dubois," She said in a cold tone, the professional assassin fully replacing the nervous little girl.

"No one is going." Riser announced firmly. "If that isn't the Crimson Sabbat, then there is only one other group in the Phenex region who would attempt to do something this stupid. And if it is who I thinks it is, then it's a matter of family honor."

"The Bandit Queen." I heard Ravel whisper fearfully.

Hoh? Is There some history there?

Riser was immediately got out of the vehicle. "The Great Riser Phenex, alone, shall deal with this!" He announced as he left.

"Ah Brother wait!- That idiot."

I chucked. "So, what is this about the Bandit Queen stuff?"

"Ah." The Phenex girl sent me a troubled look, "I-It's from before I was born. Uh, older brother Ruval killed the head of the Esparosa family in a duel, and the family fell from grace soon after. The heiress of the family vowed to get revenge on the Phenex and-"

"And has been causing trouble since then, I can imagine." I rolled my eyes at the clichéd story. Local drama; every region has them.

"Do you wish me to help him El-Young Master?" Reiko offered.

"Nah, if Riser said he got it, then he got it."

The bird boy in question was having an argument with his family's butler, but it soon ended when the first of the bandits began to appear over the hills, and then more appeared… and more…

"There are so many!" Ravel exclaimed, her hand coming to tightly grip the sleeve of my shirt.

"Yep, about two hundred." And with three hundred more behind the hill, "Quite the excessive number. What did that heiress do, gather all the bandit gangs into one army?"

"I… I don't know, I didn't pay attention to the classes."

"Ara ara, you need to take them more seriously, Ravel-chan." I singsonged.

"A-Are you my mom!? Why did you switch to Japanese!?"

"M-Mou Ely never called me Reiko-chan…" Reiko complained on the side with a pout. Oi oi, I can hear you girl.

A bright flash of light draw our attention back, we turned to see Riser rising in the air with a pair of glorious flaming wings flapping behind him.

"Brother, he is going to be alright… right?" Ravel's grip trembled slightly. "I-I means we are immortal, so he definitely isn't going to die… right?"

Hum, Riser was right about her… I suppose you could afford to spoil one of the children when you have the luxury to have many, but to this extent? I wonder if she'd ever seen a true battle before.

Riser seems to have reached a satisfactory height to look down on everyone- I mean, to look at the battlefield, and magically enhanced his voice. When he next spoke, his words came like a booming explosion.

 **"Hear me, mongrels! You are trespassing in the Phenex family's private territory and spoiling the air with every breath you inferior beings take! To add further weight to your unforgivable crimes, you also have shown aggression toward the members of the pillar family themselves! Lay down your weapons now and I,** _ **THE GREAT RISER PHENEX,**_ **swear to make your passage to the afterlife a quick and painless one!"**

H-Holy shit he calls himself 'the Great Riser Phenex' to the people he doesn't know too! That's chuuni as fuck!

The bandits, displaying the usual level intelligence of bandits everywhere, just screamed their battle cry louder and increase the speed of their charge. From over the hills a group of more distinct devils appeared, flying in the direction of the Phenex boy, they were being led by a purple-haired woman dressed like a 90's anime villain.

I could practically hear Riser clicking his tongue in annoyance. He seems to pull his wings closer to his body, before spreading them in a theatrical display; the flames of the wings grew in size and intensity, rapidly spreading until they were twenty-eight times bigger than their normal size; making it look like there was a solid wall of flames behind Riser's back.

"What he is doing!?" Ravel asked.

"I… Don't know?" I admitted.

Riser calmly raised his hand, and the wall of flames… rippled, for the lack of a better word, with many points of light forming on the surface and seems to push against it- Wait a minute…

"No," I mumbled as it dawned on me. "It can't be…"

"What? What!?" I felt little Ravel shaking me, but my eyes was still transfixed at the impossibility in front of me.

 _"He is pulling a Gilgamesh!"_ Where the fuck did he learn to do that!?

"A what?"

The light pushing against the surface finished taking form… and yep; swords, spears, lances, halberds and many other pointy weapons, all made of concentrated fire and packing enough magic to blow a truck sized hole on a thick castle wall were now hovering over Riser's shoulder.

The bandit charge was stopped momentarily by the appearance of the weapons, and the intense light and heat they were emitting.

 **"Ah yes, look at your demise, mongrels."** Of course, he'd gloat, what was I expecting? **"Look at My Majesty and Despair! And always remenber; You have brought this upon yourself!"**

He brought his hand down.

…The bandits tried to put up a defense, they really tried; they were clearly used to fight against Phenexes as most of their equipments had strong anti-fire enchantments in them, and most of the spells they used seem to be designed to counter the pillar's signature element. So, the formation they had and the barriers they managed to pull together were the correct choices.

Riser just overpowered them all.

What is the use of defending against one, two, or even twenty flying flaming swords, when there was an unending rain of them falling immediately behind it? What is the use of nullifying the scorching heat they emanate if you still have to deal with the impact and explosion that followed? What is the use of having a shield that could perfectly defend against any fire spell exactly once, if you have to defend against an infinite number of them?

Most of the bandits died in the first few waves, the strongest ones or the ones that managed to hide behind a strong shield lasted a few seconds longer.

Riser didn't hold back, even after they all seemed to die. He spent a full minute _carpet bombing_ the place. And by the end, there was nothing but fire and ashes on a deformed landscape.

…Seriously though; how the fuck did he learn to do that!? Does he play Fate? Wait; does Fate franchise even exist in this universe? If I'm not mistaken the first game was released in 2004, and it's still 2003 in the human world, so…

"W-Woah!" Reiko finally found her voice. "H-he's that powerful!... But then how did I…"

"Because he sucks at close quarters," I explained absentmindedly, still focusing mostly on Nasuverse bullshit. "That and because me and Ravel were in the blast range; he's a soft-hearted little bastard once you get past the over-the-top arrogance. But yeah, he would totally kick your ass in a better situation."

"… Oh."

"Hey, don't be like that, you would make him work for a victory. There is nothing to be ashamed-"

"WOAH! THAT WAS AMAZING!" Little Ravel finally comes out of her shock. She immediately jumped out of the carriage to greet her brother.

I laughed at the little girl's enthusiasm before turning back to Reiko. "Like I was saying, you're still not on pillar devils level… but you _will_ be someday, that I can promise you. Now, let's greet the bird boy"

Leaving Reiko alone with her thoughts, I left the carriage to the image of Riser dramatically descending from heavens while holding a burning chunk of meat in his hand, with his little sister jumping around enthusiastically, and his butler clapping vigorously on the ground.

"Bravo! Splendid! Magnificent! Oh, Young Master, you have grown so much in so little time! The Lord and Lady will be so proud!"

"Brother! Brother!" Ravel immediately jumped to his stomach, hugging him tightly. "How did you do that!? There were so many blades and, and they were all so fast! Did you make them individually? How did you fuse the spell to your wing!? Brother! Hey Brother!"

I have known Riser for some years now, so I can say for sure that the look on his face right now is much better than the usual one.

"Hey." I greeted. Offering my fist

"… Is that a human thing?" He asked, raising his eyebrow.

"It's called a fist bump, I offered because you did something genuinely awesome." He grinned and punched his fist into mine so hard that it broke his knuckle. Eh, good enough for the first time. "So, what the hell was that?"

"HAH!" He buffed a laugher. "You can't even recognize a move that you helped create! The Great Me is disappointed with you, my minion!" He leaned forward with an overconfident smile. " _Flaming sword bullets_ remember? Behold the fruit of my unlimited creativity!"

That made me blink. So, he _was_ listening.

"Young Master." The butler called to the side, standing over the burned chunk that Riser threw on the ground. "Should I dispose of this… thing?"

Hum? Looking closer the chunk seems to actually be a woman, a horribly burned, barely alive woman, but a woman.

"No, you are to give her a phoenix tear! Any woman that can annoy my older brother so much is worth keeping alive."

"Annoy our-" Ravel's charming blue eyes widened. "W-Wait, is that _Yubelluna Esparosa!?_ The Bandit Queen!?"

"Yes!" Riser shouted, sounding satisfied with his decision. "The Great Me finds this woman _interesting!"_

Yubelluna- wait, haven't I heard that name before?

…Oh!

-0-0-0-

The Phenex's region was known throughout the underworld by its high mountains and volcanoes. Not the human's kind of volcanoes, of course, the underworld kind of volcanoes, which on average makes the one in Yellowstone looks like a high school science project.

Appropriately, The Phenex family castle was built on the mouth of the biggest, baddest one in the region. That monster was magically sealed in a state of a perpetually impending eruption, with the castle serving as a type of stopper to keep the apocalyptic event from happening, and it has been serving its purpose for thousands of years. Legends said that if the Phenex Castle ever falls, the seal would break and the entire underworld would be engulfed in lava and ashes.

The Castle itself was the most evil looking piece of architecture I ever saw, and whoever built it clearly had a worrisome obsession with fire; he filled the place up with torches, pyres, bonfires, and many other fire-related decorations just in case the chosen location wasn't enough of a clue. There was so much light and fire that the inside of the castle looks like it was constantly daytime, which perhaps was the point given that most of the castle stays covered twenty-four hours a day with a dark volcanic cloud coming from the ocean of lava boiling beneath its foundation.

It did have an environmental barrier comparable to the one in the Dantalion castle of course. Otherwise, the staff would have been cooked alive long ago.

The third son of the Phenex and I were walking through the long corridors on an unreasonable hour in the morning, fast on our way to our planned hunt. I suspected the reason Riser chose to start this early was to avoid having to deal with Ravel asking to come with us. Riser hated the fact that the little Phenex girl wanted to participate in every activity that I was involved in… but also couldn't really deny her if she asks cutely enough. Honestly, I had the same problem; Ravel Phenex is dangerously cute.

"…And this!" Riser paused on a page of the bestiary he had in his hands and pushed it to my face. "Is a Cockatrice, the crown jewel of this mountain. Extremely aggressive, capable of copying any fire spells used against it, with scales comparable to a mid class dragon, a paralyzing gaze, poisonous spit and much, much more. This is what we are going to be hunting today my minion. We will kill it, eat its hearts, and hang its ugly head on the trophy hall!" He closed the book with a loud snap and murmured under his breath. _"That will teach my brothers not to doubt me…"_

I chuckled at his comical expression. I highly doubt we would be able to find any Cockatrices like Riser wants; as soon as we step outside the castle, a team of battle servants will follow us unseen and 'filter' any hellbeast we find, so that they would be quite strong, but not strong enough that we couldn't dealt with it; this was the usual procedures when a pillar devil child hunted alone… Though it might be different with the Phenexes due to their nifty regeneration. Either way, I kept silent as to not burst his bubble.

"So this is the thing you were talking about. Leaving the best for the last isn't it?"

"Of course! I promised that your first stay at the Phenex estate would be a memorable one!" Riser smiled and trotted ahead. "We have to end it with a bang so that we can have a goal to surpass on your next visit."

I smiled a little. Yeah, my stay here was surprisingly enjoyable, I even ended up staying all the scheduled days instead of cooking out an excuse and escape on the second day like I had planned. The Phenex family were surprising good people to be around… from the 'not enemy devil' perspective at least. I already knew Riser of course, and learned to find fun in his eccentricities, little Ravel has really come out from her shell and now seems to enthusiastically follow me wherever I go, the Phenex lord was a nice enough guy, but I could see how his secret hobby could put some people off, Lady Phenex was a total babe that has a master degree in embarrassing her children in front of visitors, and the rest of the staff seems to be happy to work there; which do indicate something about the family, believe me. The only ones I didn't meet were the two older brothers, which by what I heard; are a professional rating gamer, and a television personality respectively.

The family was fun… but what really interests me was the Dragon Mountain; a place right at the border of the Gremory and Phenex regions where the dragons allied to the Devilkind lived, and where Tannin the Meteor Dragon, one of the most powerful devils in the underworld, made his domicile.

The sheer awesomeness of seeing an actual, living, breathing dragon, even if only by seeing through the shadows, was worth the entire visit. Hell, the fact that I got the recipe for a super elixir felt like a bonus when it should be the other way around. There was just… _something_ about dragons that drew people in. I don't know how to explain it; just… That bullshit about dragon smell? I completely understand now.

Riser is saying something.

"Sorry, what did you just say?"

He quickly turned his head to the side "N-Nothing."

…

Now I really _really_ want to know.

"Seriously man, my mind wonders sometimes, you know how it is. I honestly didn't hear what you said."

He didn't reply for a couple of seconds, but in the end…

"I said; 'if you want to visit again that is!' there! Now let's go! The Cockatrice awaits!"

Is that what got him so flustered; that's kinda silly.

I open my mouth to reply-

And the magic in the air _twisted._

My head ached instinctively. _Goddamnit!_ Not again.

"What!" Riser gasped in surprise as the bright light of a clandestine magical circle shone behind us.

His first instincts took over, and an intense jet of flames was shot toward it-

It was met by an equally intense jet of water, spreading a layer of mist across the corridor.

"Sona Sitri!" Riser exclaimed after the identity of the invader became clear. "What is the meaning of this!?"

I could barely make out the image of an annoyed Sona Sitri narrowing her eyes, before my vision was overtaken by brilliant red hair.

"ELY!" Exclaimed Rias Gremory as she latched on to my shirt. She looked… She looked like she was about to cry. "You're super smart, right? We need your help!"

"Gremory's here too?! What is going on!? And how did you managed to teleport _into_ the castle! RISER PHENEX DEMANDS ANSWERS!"

Something tells me that this is going to be a long day.

-0-0-0-

I always knew that this would happen, it was established in the canon timeline, after all, I just didn't know when exactly in the timeline it would happen, but it was always a matter of time.

And according to Rias, it happened five days ago.

"And-And he won't talk to me!" The Gremory heiress whined as we traversed the field of yellowish tall grasses. We were all politely ignoring the way she was wiping her tears. "Me and Sona tried to talk to him for hours, but he just blows us off! It's like our friendship didn't matter anymore!"

"Something like this can't be swept under a rug," I commented while pushing the bubble-shaped barrier forward. The blades of grass around these parts were literal blades of grass; they scratched and grazed against the transparent magical bubble barrier we cast with a metallic sound as we passed through. "I'm surprised that there wasn't any official statement by now."

"Perhaps there is… my mother wasn't eating breakfast with us, remember? Maybe she was in a meeting discussing the events." Riser shared his piece of mind. "But still to exile them _here_ is-"

"A death sentence, we are aware." Sona cuts in. She could hide her emotions better than Rias, but I'm pretty sure her lower lip will start bleeding soon if she keeps biting it like that. "My sister and Rias' brother managed to get them a safe house close to the borders, but the Baels made it very clear that they want them _inside_ the region, and to fight against the will of the Baels in the current political climate..."

"Bastards! All of them!" Rias bellowed. "They want them to suffer! They want to humiliate them! They're so _mean!_ …. Sai worked so hard…" She sobbed, working more vigorously to wipe away the tears. "It's not fair!"

…Sairaorg Bael, or I suppose, just Sairaorg now. The Bael family finally figured out that he didn't inherit the Power of Destruction and exiled him and his mother to the Bael countryside.

All of that was nothing new to me; I already knew what was going to happen, not from remembering the anime, because he only made a brief appearance in the atrocious third season, but from remembering his wiki page, which told me precisely that.

But I never fully realize the implications of it until I was reincarnated here and learned about the _true nature_ of the Bael 'countryside'.

During the Great War, this was the place where the original Beelzebub met his end, the place an original Satan fell, _a deathbed of a Satan_ … and just like with the Dantalion region, it affected the entire landscape.

Comparing the two places, I can see that my Family had it easy; the only region-wide change was the eternal winter that plagues the land. But Devils could still make a life for themselves there. Sure, the weather, and the hellbeasts that evolved because of the weather were extremely hard to deal with, but because devils are devils that only made things more attractive for many that wished for a challenge. The _true_ horrors brought by the corpse of Leviathan stays isolated to this day in one particular place, and didn't spread to the rest of the territory.

The Bael's region, by contrast, has been entirely affected by the _full force_ of Beelzebub's corruption since day one, and it has become _the_ most inhospitable place in _hell_ because of it. The only safe haven, and the single example of devil civilization was the Bael family's gigantic moving castle, which also served as their capital city.

This place is like the Dantalion's forest on super steroids; _everything_ here was designed to kill you and your entire family. The fauna, the flora, the insects, the minerals, the inanimate objects… everything here is a rapidly evolving, horribly mutating mess that is usually full of rot and diseases. And the danger didn't stop in things that were visible; the very air was littered with a cocktail of devil-grade viruses and bacteria; a single breath of unfiltered air would send an adult devil to the hospital for the rest of the year, and that was if they do it in borders of the region where things are more mellow. Lastly, there was this weird radiation that somehow stays accumulated in the sky, coloring it a sickly green color instead of the usual purple; if _anything_ attempted to fly in this place, it would land a burbling pile of cancerous cells. Things get really fun there when it rained…

So yeah, the reason why we were moving like hamsters in a ball right now is more to have an environmental shield than to protect us against the sharp blades of grass.

"How much longer till we get there? I don't think staying here for too long is a good idea." I said.

"It's just past the grass field, we should be able to see the glow of the external barrier soon," Sona said, but then muttered under her breath. _"I hope."_

"Stupid teleportation circle!" Rias jumped at the opportunity to direct her frustrations at something. "First it failed on Elias' castle, now here! This stupid thing never works!"

"It worked to get into _my_ castle." Riser clicked his tongue. "And why are you even taking us there? If you and Sitri didn't manage to get him to open up, what makes you think The Great Me and my loyal minion can? And besides, why should we help the weakling to begin with!?"

Riser did have a point there, but insulting Sairaorg in the presence of an emotional Rias Gremory was a really stupid idea.

 _"What did you just say!?"_ The little red hair was immediately up on Riser's face, pushing a finger hard against his chest.

"Now listen here you pompous asshole! Sairaorg is one of the kindest, most hardworking devils that I know! He had to prove himself every day to a family that never appreciated him, and he did so without complaining! All the things you and I receive just for being born he had to FIGHT his hardest for it! Fight against the stupidly high expectations of his bastard of a father! Can you imagine how it must have been, living like that!? No!? Then you have NO RIGHT to talk about him like that, in fact, if you're even HALF the devil he IS, you would be PRAISING him for his strength."

To punctuate her rant, the Gremory girl grabbed Riser by the collar of his shirt and violently pulled him down until their foreheads smashed together.

"And if I ever heard you run your mouth about him like that again. You will be dealing with _me_ , got it!?" I could feel the intensity of the glare from where I stood. _"GOT IT!?"_

I was expecting a lot of thing from Riser at that moment; I was expecting him to pull back, outraged by the girl's insolence and start a shouting match. I was expecting him to submit to the girl's tone and conceded the victory. I was even expecting him to laugh off the words of a younger, and frankly, less powerful girl.

I wasn't expecting him to blush brightly and shyly turn his eyes away.

"G-got it." He said meekly.

…

...What the hell just happened?

I had no time to process what I just saw before my instincts started to flare. A second later, Sona shouted.

"ENEMY-"

Before any of the children could react, a long, serrated blade emerged from the tall grass and slashed against our barrier, luckily I had already reinforced it with my magic, so it just sent us flying instead of cutting right through it.

Our bodies smashed against each other as our bubble barrier bounced on the ground twice, I caught us on the next fall with a large, hand-shaped shadow construct.

"W-What was that!?" Rias exclaimed as she moved to sit down, unintentionally pressing more of her loli ass on my face.

"You are stepping over The Great Me, minion! Cease this insolence this very instant!" I guess Riser is alive, yay?

"T-Thank you, Elias." Sona was the first one to get out from the tangle of limbs. "Quick! We have to… Oh my Satans…"

"Bah! Enough of this! The great Riser Phenex doesn't have to... What _is_ that!?"

"Rias, get up."

"Hum?… Oh, sorry!"

The girl finally got up, allowing me to see the enemy.

I had already seen it through the shadows, but seeing it through my own eyes was a whole different story.

It was the shape of a giant praying mantis, with four raptor-like front legs instead of two, but that is where the similarities ended. The abdomen was a bloated mess full of bumps that ended up in various deformed limbs, with four long hairy ones acting as the hind legs. The torso was long, fleshy and skeletal, with many open wounds along with rapidly regenerating ones; they lingered on its form like bloody jigsaw puzzles. Its face was as if someone had forcibly stretched the scalp of a human into a mantis head, with two long tusk-like teeth coming from the side of the mouth, curved like a pincer.

The thing's entire body was twitching constantly, and a pus-like viscous fluid was dripping from the wounds, instead of blood.

It only needed to preach about the wonders of Papa Nurgle to complete the image in my mind.

"Seriously, what is that!?" Riser still couldn't believe.

"Bael demon…" Rias mumbled.

"It's coming!" I shouted as the thing crossed the distance between us in an instant.

It started to slash its blades against our barrier in a brutally fast rhythm, all the while letting out an ear-piercing screech.

"We got to do something!"

"Can we even fight it!?"

No, definitely no, the answer is that simple; these kids are still not ready to take on something like this, the only one who would survive this encounter was Riser, and that's if the thing didn't have a super poison that constantly killed him until he ran out of energy or break down mentally.

That thing needs to be eviscerated alive with its own shadow, a feat that I shouldn't be able to do in the minds of the kids. But having their memories altered is better than death… thought that is also fixable… Nah, I would feel guiltier that way.

But first…

"I-It's cracking the barrier!"

Yeah, let's deal with that, I'm fairly sure I can handle the Bael region's toxic air, but I really don't want to put this to test without proper preparations.

Pushing past the panicking kids, I raised my hand and manifested the concave magic circle that was projecting the barrier. Then, I started altering the formula.

My actions seemed to have snapped them back to reality.

"Multiple layers?" Said Sona, reading the formula from over my shoulder. "That's genius!"

Soon a pair of hands joined mine, adding to my efforts, then two more pairs followed.

Hoh? What a surprise; they're better than I thought.

Soon the transparent bubble that was beginning to crack was pristine once again, with a new layer of protection stating to form around it.

The hellbeast noticed that and started to use the tip of the blade to strike us, that combined with the growing speed of the attacks managed to break the newly created layer. But soon, another one took its place; this one tinted yellow.

The beast's next strike sent its arm backward until it almost flew out of its shoulder as the impact was reflected back to it.

"HAH!"

"Nice job Riser!"

The beast let out an angry screech and twisted its body in a circular movement, using its entire torso as a whip to strike horizontally.

The strength was enough to overcome the barrier's new reflective effect and sent us rolling.

"That's _it!"_ Riser jumps back to his feet after I stopped the roll with another shadow hand. "My new ultimate move will end this!"

"Do NOT spread your wings in there!" I shouted quickly.

"Rias, can you project your power of destruction from anywhere else other than your body?" Sona asked, putting back her glasses; it had a crack on the left lens.

"N-No, sorry."

"Then you and Riser will focus on maintaining the barrier. Elias and I will attack!"

Hoh, so miss Sitri is going to take the lead? Perhaps I should keep the shadow evisceration as plan B. This is much more interesting.

I started to make shadow spikes burst out from beneath the beast, remembering to put a magic circle before each one. The new time gap between the circle and the spell gave the beast ample opportunity to dodge it.

Sona began to show her new mastery over long distance circles by adding to my attack with ice bullets that shot the thing while it was in the middle of a dodge, but it was agile enough avoid it.

"It's fast, too fast." I heard her commenting.

The beast quickly figured out our rhythm and rapidly danced around it while moving in our direction. It got a step too close before activating Sona's trap circle and got blown away by a huge geyser.

"Yes, it fell for-"

"Too early!" I made the shadow hand drag us away as the hellbeast landed on the place we were in like a meteor. "It can't fly, but it can direct it's fall!"

Sona wasted no time in blasting a jet of water at the smoke raised by the impact. The attack, predictably, hit nothing.

"Where is it!?"

"My guess is-"

At that moment, the beast burst out from underground, it's blade hitting the lower side of the barrier with a strength that made Riser and Rias grunt. We shot upward in a perfect ninety-degree angle.

I kept my eyes on the enemy; it looked up and opened its mouth. The pincer around its mouth spread wide open, and the row of sharp teeth began to… roll like a freaking chainsaw… What the fuck is the biological explanation for _this monstrosity!?_

"What's it doing!?" Rias shouted.

"Trying to give us a hug- what do you think it's doing?" I snarked.

 _"Silence!_ I'm trying to think!"

Then, we were suddenly _not_ falling anymore. There was a gust of wind blowing around our barrier, keeping us afloat.

We all turned to Riser who, because his hands were busy with the barrier's circle, had cast the spell with his foot.

"Hn! I may not be able to attack, but I'm not useless!" He shouted.

"N-Nice! Kept this up-"

"It's coming."

The hellbeast got tired of waiting for us to fall and jumped at us instead. Sona made a circle on the side in a desperate move. The jet of water hit us this time, pushing our barrier out of the way.

And the beast dove _inside_ the stream and began to take a swing at us — what a persistent little critter.

I made a shadow quickly rise from the ground up to get in its way. The effect was like a Looney Tunes character hitting a wall at high speeds. But the move also cut the stream and made us fall, until Riser made another wind current. We stayed afloat just above the tall grass.

"Where is it!?" Sona turned to me. "Can you see it!?"

"Me too… Sona me too, tell me how I can help!?" We heard Rias shouting from behind us.

The hellbeast burst out of the grass. I reduced the time between circle and spell and battered it to the side with a shadow whip that came from the ground.

"There it is." I said, watching the tallgrass rippling around.

"We have to trap it first." Said Sona, holding her chin. "It's the only way we could land a hit."

…Oi girl, did you see what I just did!?

"Hey, how do I make one of those far away circles!?"

"Not now Rias!" Sona snarled back.

The thing jumped again, this time already adapted to my shadow whip's strength; I was barely able to change its trajectory.

No, it was not adapting, it was…

"It's getting stronger." I finished out loud.

"What!?" Sona snapped, then her eyes widened in realization, "The more it moves the stronger it gets! That's why it keeps running in circles around us. We have to get out of here!"

Too late, a mantis shaped bullet flew from the tall grass in a scary level of speed. Oh boy, I don't think the children are fast enough to react to that.

Ok, if it manages to break the outer layer, I'm killing it.

As the blades were about to hit us, a blinding flash of light flared; it came from a horribly misshapen magic circle that appeared right in front of the flying hellbeast. I could see it was an explosion spell, a good idea given that most offensive spells explode if they fail anyway, but this one failed so hard it turned into a light spell instead.

The thing screeched painfully and flinched violently. Crashing on us with its back instead of its blades. It soon was on the ground, squirming.

Mm, sensitive eyes… makes sense considering the speed it could reach.

"That's it?... That was all I could do!?" Rias said in a desperate tone.

"No Rias"... Commented Sona, watching the bug writhing on the dirt, "You saved us!" She sends her friend a thankful smile before focusing back on the immediate threat.

A bright blue, Sitri-styled, magic circle appeared right beneath the mantis, sending it upward in another geyser. Half of the way another Sitri circle appeared in the opposite direction; shooting its own jet of water. Soon, a series of the same type of circles appeared from the sides, trapping the hellbeast in a prison of circular rapids.

"T-There!" Grunted Sona, the effort of keeping multiple spells activated evident on her voice. "Someone… please-"

"I got you."

I pointed two fingers forward and made a Dantalion circle appear just above the water prison, then I pointed upward, and made more and more appeared until it resembled a pillar.

The simple lightning spell started on the highest circle, and with each subsequent one it passed through, it grew in size and strength, making it more powerful.

It _crashed_ on the target as a colossal bolt of lightning _,_ the impact was felt almost physically as the world was overtaken by sounds and fury.

When we could see again, there was only a wide crater with a black, scorched mass at the center.

The kids stayed in shocked silence for a few moments.

"We… We did it." Riser's astonished voice was the first one that broke the silence. "We killed a Bael demon."

That opened the gates, and the cheers started, cheers of a group of happy children could make; I stood stoically silent like the badass I was.

Alright, I also joined in. I couldn't help it; these kids' enthusiasm is extremely infectious.

"You were incredible!" Little Sona jumped on me while Rias and Riser chanted 'we are awesome' in the background. "The way the circles fed power to the primary spell, and, and the way it passed through them all without any rejection!" Her purple eyes were sparkling as she got closer to my face. "I didn't even know this was possible!"

"Hey, don't go dishing the stunt you pulled back there; keeping twenty-three different spells activated at long range, each one with their own formula must have needed some mad concentration there." I gave her a friendly smile. "We make a good team Sona."

She opened her mouth to respond but suddenly frozen. I was almost turning back to see what was behind me before she moved again.

"GIH!" She makes a strangled sound with her throat, and quickly turned until I could only see the back of her head. Her ears were extraordinarily red.

"I-I-I-I think… Y-Y-You… I-I mean. Y-yes we do E-Elias…"

What the- did I send her my 'bullshit smile' by mistake?

Whatever…

"You can call me Ely if you want, you know. Rias already does and Ravel started doing so as well. It's only a matter of time before everybody calls me that."

There was another strangled sound; one much higher pitched this time. I got the impression that she only heard the first part.

 _*C-Crack!*_

A loud cracking sound suddenly echoed through the air. We immediately focused on the source.

"…No." Murmured one of the girls.

The scorched mantis hellbeast stood back up, his body trembling like never before, with bit and pieces of it falling to the ground.

"How that hell is that thing still alive!?" Rias exclaimed.

"Calm down and look at it, it looks about to fall over. It must be about to die."

I regretted these words as soon as they came out of my mouth.

With a gross, skittering sound and a lot of shaking, the thing's burned skin began to elongate, stretching forward in a display similar to the Star War movies' hyperspace effect. Then with a louder crack, the scorched skin fell from its body entirely, revealing a fully healed mantis demon beneath with its new skin pink and healthy.

… Okay, that's kind of cheating.

"...Yep, that's it. I'm toasting the bastard." Riser suddenly announced, breaking the shocked silence. "Elias, is there some way to get only my wings out of the barrier!?"

"Well, It's certainly possible, maybe if we make a hole in the inner layer while leaving the outer layer closed-"

Whatever battle plan we were starting to cook up was interrupted by the appearance of an enormous blur leaping over us from above and crashing on the mantis hellbeast like a speeding locomotive. There was a loud crunching sound, and the bug was ripped in two before we could barely blink.

Hum, I was wondering when the ruckus we were making would attract a new hellbeast.

Our new problem came in the form of a gorgeous lion-like creature the size of a school bus; it looks like a perfect example of an adult African lion, save for a pair of large bull horns sprouting from its forehead.

It turned its head and looked at us with a pair of freakishly intelligent yellow eyes. Blood and other unmentionable fluids of the mantis demon still dripping down its muzzle- wait, is that safe to put in its mouth?

"Great, _another_ one. This just keeps getting better and better!" Fumed Riser throwing his hands up in exasperation

"At least we don't have to deal with the mantis anymore." I smiled sardonically, trying to get a feel of the newcomer's strength.

"Wait, Wait, WAIT!" Rias suddenly puts herself in front of us. "It's not an enemy!"

I raised my eyebrow, and Riser grumbled a "You better be certain about that." From the side.

"It's true," Sona added, "It's one of Sairaorg's mother's lions. Huh…"

"Mr. Fuzzywhiskers!" Rias finished, before turning around and press her hand against the barrier wall. "Hello, Mr. Fuzzywhiskers!"

… Leaving aside the giant black lion named Mr. Fuzzywhiskers… No, let's focus on the giant lion named Mr. Fuzzywhiskers. Why is the giant lion named Mr. Fuzzywhiskers?

"That's a… a Vapula raised lion, right? I didn't know they made it this big." Riser commented as the giant lion named Mr. Fuzzywhiskers approached.

"They keep the best ones within the family. Aunt Misla is particularly good at raising them, so she has a lot of super strong ones!" Rias explained without turning her head.

Ah yes, the Vapula bloodline ability of 'power of lions'. Just like the Furcas', it was deceitfully weak sounding ability when put on paper, and it's true that it doesn't bring any immediate personal power, but when one takes a moment to think about the full implications of it, and remembers that a devil's ability is only limited by their imagination, then the majesty of the power begins to appear.

A Vapula can take a small and sickly lion cub and turn it into a killing machine after a few short months of training. They can train their lions to obey the command of their masters like a normal trainer does, but they can also train them to grow on command, to turn invisible, to breath fire or to spit poison, and many, many other things… Sure, the process itself must be more complicated than that, and it requires time and effort, but what a skilled Vapula can do with a well-bred lion cub is, frankly, scary.

The Vapula family and the Furcas family's abilities are basically making super hellbeasts out of ordinary animals, they have enough versatility with it to easily land them a spot among the pillars.

To be honest, I had underestimated their power when I first heard about it. But now, standing so close to one of their creatures, and feeling the _power_ it radiated, I definitely won't make that mistake again.

"Hey, there big guy," Rias said as Mr. Fuzzywhiskers bumped its huge nose against the barrier. "Can you take us to your mommy?"

The lion licked the barrier…Ew.

"W-What is he? A dog-WOAH!"

We all screamed as he bit the side of our environmental bubble, his long fangs easily piercing through the outer layer.

"Wh-What are you doing boy, you can't- OW!"

Mr. Fuzzywhiskers suddenly raised us, and bolted forwards, stepping over the sharp blades of tallgrass like they're nothing. He even managed to keep us stable while he ran.

"Oh, he is just taking us there."

"… So, that means it's over?... we did it?"

After a few moments of silence, the three children fell on their backs and let out their respective sound of relief.

I sat back and chuckled at the display. It was definitively a good decision to not kill the mantis immediately. I'm damn proud of these kids; not only do they kept their head relatively clear while fighting the strongest type of hellbeast of the Underworld, also the place's boogeyman coincidentally, but they also pulled a victory against it. Sure, I was there to help along and fix things if the worst came to pass, but they didn't know that, and Sona just used me as another piece in her strategy, so it still counts.

Plus, I had a lot of fun.

Closing my eyes and leaning my head against the barrier, I let the rushing sounds of the wind, and the very soft shake of the bubble drift me into a nap.

As always, my perspective automatically fell into the shadow-

 **What the fuck is that!?**

"Ow! What the-?"

"An earthquake?" I heard the children's voices in the world of light.

... It was big, really freaking big, colossally fucking big actually!

 _And it was right beneath us!_

"ELIAS, wake up!" I snapped open my eyes to the worried face of Rias, "Something is happening, Look!"

I did, and I saw the jagged white pillars rising from the earth on the horizon. I already knew they were its teeth.

"Oi lion! GET US OUT OF-"

I didn't even finish my shout before Mr. Fuzzywhiskers _accelerated._ Our immediate surrounding becomes a blur and a cone of air soon started to form around us. Indicating that we already surpassed the speed of most race cars and were getting close to subsonic velocity.

The titanic hellbeast also moved with frighteningly fast speeds, its mouth soon appeared in the horizon like a cover of solid darkness and began to rise; it was like watching a mountain valley forming in fast forward, and it resonated with the sounds of tectonic plates moving.

Deep fissures started to appear on the shaking ground.

"I-It can't be, I never heard of a hellbeast this big-or, or anything this big for that matter," Sona mumbled on my side.

"Bael region; it always come out with new ways to fuck you over!" I remarked, and turned back to our vehicle, "FASTER LION, FASTER!"

I can't believe that worked, but it did.

Mr. Fuzzywhiskers groaned and accelerated even more. His paws broke the ground behind him with the strength of his steps. He had to jump and dodge when the fissures spread too deep and had to leap when the ground began to go up vertically and practically turned into a platform game, but he somehow kept up the speed.

Then, when the light of the sun was about to fade away, and the mountains that overtaken the world were about to close up forever, we went from jumping in the absolute darkness, to flying in a tunnel of light. And the world became clear once again as we start falling on the outside. The shockwave of the mouth smashing close was so strong that we used it to boost our fall.

"… Well." I croaked out after we got a mile away from it. Is it wrong to laugh right now? The adrenaline is getting to my head, oh fuck I think some laughter is going to escape. "That happened."

All the kids groaned in response, we fell limp to the barrier floor soon after. Hehe, I noticed that they huddled together around me; tiny devils searching for comfort are cute.

"The great Riser…" Said the man himself, leaning his back directly against mine. "Needs a rest."

"Me too." Murmured Sona, resting against mine and Riser's shoulder.

Rias shifted, she was on the opposite position than Sona, "You know, we could have used the teleportation circle to get away…"

…

…

But it would be the coward's way out! We, as the badass pillar devils that we are, had decided to stick with our loyal companion Mr. Fuzzywhiskers, until the end! Even at the risk of being eaten alive! Yes, that is exactly the reason! We definitely didn't forget we had a teleportation circle!

 _Definitely!_

Sighing, I leaned my head against Riser's and looked back at the titanic creature superimposed over the horizon. It started to let out a booming, whale-like sound that made the air itself tremble. Hearing that, I couldn't help but think about the small woodland creatures back on my forest.

Man, they sure have a long way to go.

-0-0-0-

Mr. Fuzzywhiskers couldn't keep the transonic pace for too long and had to significantly reduced his speed a few moments after the immediate danger passed. Though he was panting heavily against the barrier and clearly needing a rest, he kept going, moving at the speeds of a sports car.

We passed through what was left of the grasslands and entered a barren landscape that wouldn't be out of place in an early Fallout game. There was a vast amount of nothingness around us for a while, but soon a dome-shaped form emerged in the distance, and the lions started to appear.

They were lurking around the area, at a distance from each other, trying to patrol the maximum amount of land. The only thing similar about them was that they all resembled a lion in appearance, but besides that, they looked vastly different from one another. They had different color schemes, different sizes, different animal part on their bodies, some of them were even bipeds; these ones looked particularly weird.

I noticed that a great number of them were injured in one shape or form. Though many looked treated, it didn't strike me as the best idea to let them out in the Bael's toxic air with open wounds.

"How many super lions does she have?" I asked the girls as we ran past lion number eleven: the Chimera knockoff version.

Rias' brow furrowed as she tried to recall, "I don't know exactly… a lot?"

"Forty-seven." Answered Sona, "I counted when we visited earlier, and about fifty-three cubs."

A hundred potential super lions hm? I wonder if that is the average for a member of her family, or if Lady Misla Bael- or is it Lady Misla Vapula now? - was preparing for this.

As we got closer to our destination, we were able to see the broad, yet moderately high concrete wall that seems to contour a great part of the horizon. Getting even closer, we could see that the wall was recently made and didn't look like it would do much against the horrors of the region, but the strength of the barrier carved in it more than make up for the lack of defense.

The Iron Gate installed on the wall opened automatically as we approached, but the barrier stayed in place. Mr. Fuzzywhiskers approached, promptly pressed our bubble against it, and pushed _hard._

After a moment of small bodies smashing together and children groaning and cursing, with popped inside.

"We are finally here!" Rias exclaimed, taking a noisy, vacuum-like, breath of the clear air. After hours of being cramped together with three others on a magical bubble, I can relate.

"HAH! Another challenge overcome by the Great RISER PHENEX!" Boasted the bird boy, spreading his flaming wings.

"Can you two keep it down, please? And pull back your wings." Sona talked next.

I ignore the children in favor of checking the place. It was just as vast and barren as the outside. But there were a few devil-made buildings around; I could see an indoor farm at a distance, what I believed were several storages, and of course, a big house in the middle, though calling it a house is stretching a little; a vaguely house-shape armored bunker would be a better description, in fact, all the building were like this. Whoever built them clearly placed protection over aesthetics, as they rightfully should.

Checking the shadows to get a better view, I noticed that every single one of them spread across a few floors underground, and were connected together by a web of corridors.

But the thing that brought immediate attention to me wasn't the armored building; it was the medical tents raised close by to where we are.

There were about nine giant lions being treated there, all in various stages of distress, from the healthy looking one with a few scratches, who looked ready to get back into the fray, to the unconscious one missing most of its limbs, who was clearly fighting for its life.

There were also some devils running around there, surprisingly. My guess is that they were loyal servants who couldn't abandon their beloved lady and the young lordling; every household had some of those.

"RIAS!"

The shout came from an exhausted-looking woman wearing a safari gear running to us.

"Aunt Mis-" The woman quickly pulled Rias into a hug.

"Oh Satans, you're alright, thanks Satans you are alright." Sona started to sidestep, but the woman was quicker; the Sitri heiress soon joined inside the bone breaking hug. "You're both alright!"

So, this is Sairaorg's mother huh? Like every other pillar mother, she was gorgeous. Even with the thick dark circles around her eyes, and the stress lines on her face, she still held an air of aristocratic beauty along with a kind, motherly aura. The grimy safari gear didn't show much skin, but her shapely curves pushed against it in a very attractive way.

She continued to speak.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Some of the hellbeasts managed to teleport inside earlier this morning, I had to add an emergency anti-teleportation ward to keep them outside. It didn't even occur to me that you would be back until I felt you slamming against it. I sent a rescue party but I feared- Oh thank Satans you're alright!" The poor girls groaned painfully as the hug became even tighter.

Wait a second; an emergency anti-teleportation ward that held against a Beelzebub-designed spell? Either good old Ajuka is losing his spark, or this woman is just _that_ good.

She pulled back and, like magic, her mood shifted.

"Rias dear… Sona dear" She said too kindly while her fingers pinched the girls' cheeks. "…What did I say about coming back here?"

Oh, the motherly aura turned into the scary version of it. My own mother has been trying to achieve that for ages, but she still couldn't bring the right amount of irritation toward her child to do it.

"T-To not come back until you said so- Ouch!Ouch!Ouch!Ouch!" Poor Sona, her soft baby cheeks will never be the same.

"W-Wait Aunt Misla, I know we jumped into considerable danger because we came back but- Noooooooo!" There was no mercy for Rias' cheek also.

"Yes, very good! So, you remembered that I told you to wait until I sent you a message confirming that things are safe, that it would take a few days for the swarm of hellbeasts to get used to the new addition to their ecosystem, and that they wouldn't stop attacking until then, thus making this an extremely dangerous place for cute children like you to be around. And I also distinctively remember telling you to not use teleportation until we set up a proper saferoom for it, that it has a chance of failing and send you flying to _the most dangerous place in the Underworld._ Kinda like, _exactly what just happened!"_

"W-What a scary woman." Commented a horrified Riser besides me.

I nodded. "Yeah."

 _"Guuuh!_ Bhut! Bhut! Therhe were no Hellbeasht for most of our whay here!" Sona, tried to argue.

"That's because of the Apple Orchard's presence, they will come back after it passes."

Apple orchard? The fuck? What does an apple orchard have anything to do with anything… wait, wait, wait that gigantic hellbeast is called Apple Orchard- _Why is that gigantic hellbeast get called Apple Orchard!?_

"Now." The older woman finally released the girl's cheeks, "Why are you guys back so soon?" She asked in a tone of someone who already knew the answer.

"We came to see Sai!" Rias responded, holding her aching cheek.

"Sorry for coming back without warning, but we couldn't leave him alone like this, not after the way we last spoke." Sona turned to us. "We even brought Elias to help!"

Hehe, Riser is grinding his teeth from being purposefully ignored.

"'My, Elias Dantalion, I heard a lot about you." She says with a tired smile, I bowed my head in a silent greeting. She turned to Riser "… And you are?"

The bird boy blew a puff of smoke, but open an arrogant smile nevertheless, "RISER PHENEX, Madam, Greatest devil of my generation!"

The little bastard declared that as an open challenge, cheeky brat.

Lady Vapula let out a soft peal of laughter and bowed politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you young Dantalion, young Phenex. And I thank you for showing support to my son."

I roughly pushed my elbow on Riser's ribs, preventing his snarky response, and answered instead. "Thank you for having us Lady Vapula. I wish we had met under better circumstances."

And don't think I missed how you worded your greeting there, you sneaky sexy MILF - trying to use our visit to gain some political points with the nearby Lords hm? Smart move, going against the Bael will require all the help she could get.

The corners of her smile twitched a little.

"It's still Lady Bael, I'm afraid. The creature that I married still holding on to some disillusion that I will abandon my son and go back to it. It is doing what it can to make the title stick for as long as possible."

That's… interesting, and I believe it goes against Sairaorg's wiki page, which told me that both he and his mother were forced to live in the Bael countryside. However, if I think about it, it makes sense that the Bael lord want to keep his wife, especially if what Rias said is true and she is 'particularly good' at her ability.

One would think that the mothers of abilityless pillars children would be shunned by society, and I'm sure they were at one point, but it quickly became apparent that this phenomenon wasn't genetic, and could happen to _any_ devil at random. So today there is usually no repercussions to the mother in those cases.

Hum... The Bael lord wants her back, her birth family will most certainly provide shelter if she asked, and she could _easily_ snatch another marriage if she wanted, for the fact that she has a son - a proof of her fertility - makes her extremely more desirable as a marriage prospect. This lady has options.

And despite all these options, she still chose to stay with her son…

I think I like her.

"Okay now that everyone has been introduced!" Riser chirped in impatiently. "Can we go see Sai!?"

Lady Misla's smile became brittle. "Rias dear, I don't think it's-"

"Aunty, _please!_ I have to make things right!" The Gremory heiress practically begged.

Brown-haired lady gazes the little red-haired for a long moment before she trailed her eyes to the rest of us and did the same. In the end, she sighed.

"Alright, you know where he is staying, right?"

"YES!" Rias jumped and planted a kiss on her aunt's cheek, before taking off running in the direction of the house.

Sona sighed as she watched her go. "She could have waited for us…" The Sitri girl grumbled under her breath and turned to Lady Misla. "Thank you Lady Bael, we will be going now. This way boys."

Riser followed her with a petulant 'Finally!'

I stayed behind.

Lady Misla blinked confusedly "Aren't you going with them, young Dantalion?"

I shifted my weight over the sole of my feet and rubbed the back of my neck.

"Yeah, but… Will you be alright?"

She looked at me calmly for a few seconds, and then slowly rose to her feet, battering the dirt from her knees.

"… You got sharp senses for someone of your age." She commented as she straightened her back and rolled her shoulders. "What can you feel?"

A few miles from here, the shadows of hundreds of Bael-grade hellbeasts gathering. It doesn't seem to be a uniformed or even organized attack, but they seem to be almost instinctively drawn to this place. The wave of demons weren't numerous enough to be considered a zerg rush, but it's still a worrisome sight.

"They are coming from the west, I don't know the exact distance or the exact numbers." I lied smoothly. "But there is a lot of them."

"Ummm-Huh!" Lady Misla arched her back until there was a pop. She let out a moan of pleasure for it. "It means I have to get back to work! I will try to swing by later to see how you kids are doing."

She took a step closer and put her arm around my shoulders in a gentle embrace, then kissed the crown of my head. I took advantage of the generous opportunity to place a bind in her, of course.

"Thank you for worrying about this old lady, you are a gentleman!" She giggled happily. "But it's really nothing out of the ordinary for me, so you just go play with your friends and don't worry."

She walked past me in the direction of the gates. Her last words were muttered under her breath. They were so quiet that I had trouble catching it, and they came in a steel-clad tone that clashed against the image the woman presented.

 _"I just have to establish the pecking order."_

Oh yeah, I really like her.

-0-0-0-

With the general layout of the area already on my head, it was easy to know where I was going.

Sairaorg was staying in a secure room deep underground, with food and water to last him months in case the worst happened in the surface, and a few custom teleportation circle for him to go in and out after the dust settled.

It was the one part of the house that resembled a nice apartment instead of a Soviet bomb shelter.

He himself was at a training room on the lower floor doing katas with heavy weights strapped to his limbs.

I was the last one to arrive, but the 'conversation' could be heard from the stair.

"… And so we were like 'Oh No!' but thankfully Elias and Sona Quickly formed a bubble around us!..."

Rias was talking with forced enthusiasm. The black-haired boy was ignoring her completely and focusing on moving from stance to stance with fighting shouts.

"We had to travel to the place like hamsters on a ball, can you believe it?! That annoying Riser complained the whole time! He kept saying things like…"

Sona was beside Rias with a difficult expression on her face. Sairaorg's actions were also affecting her a lot; she actually disliked being ignored with the same intensity as Riser, but she usually kept it under wraps.

"A-And then out of nowhere a Bael demon appeared! It was sooooo gross! It looked like a mantis but with a kind of human face, it was the grossest demon I ever saw…"

Sairaorg had a dark look on his eyes and a severe expression on his face, I'm sure it would be scarier when he's older and more muscular, but now it looked like he wanted to take revenge on the leaf village while wearing a blue turtle neck.

I honestly don't know what Rias and Sona wanted me to do here. I talked with Sairaorg five-no six times in my entire life; we were always relatively friendly towards each order, but we were acquaintances at best, definitely not close enough to have a heartfelt conversation without being awkward. Either way, it doesn't really look like he even wants to talk.

I sighed; ignoring Rias attempts to start a conversation, and moved closer to Riser, who was watching everything at a distance with crossed arms .

"Hey." I greeted, "How's progress?"

"Progress?" He snorted, and the shook his head, "I don't even know what we're doing here."

"Yeah."

We turn to the sad display in front of us.

"The Bael's heir…" He said after a few seconds. "What a letdown."

I hummed at his words. "You know him better than me, or fought against him more times anyway. Is it really a let-down if nothing has changed expect the fact that he won't be getting a cool power?"

"The best power a devil could have, supposedly. And yes, it's a let-down; I thought I would be facing him at his best in the future... Turns out the last time we fought was his best." Riser scorned as he continued. "It's a tremendous disappointment; he was my second-best rival."

"Hum? Who is the first?" I asked, then felt Riser grabbing the topside of my head and squeeze.

"Stop being cheeky you damn minion!"

"Ouch! Alright sorry." I said, pushing his hand away.

There was more silence between us for a few more seconds.

"… He was falling behind lately."

"I see."

We stayed quiet after that, hearing more of Rias' suborn attempts.

Until the inevitable happened.

"ENOUGH!" Sairaorg _barked,_ startling both girls.

"A-Ah, Sai!? Wh-"

 _"Why_ are you telling me this!? Do you think it's funny that I can't go on exclusive heirs adventures anymore! Have you come to rub the fact that I'm too _weak_ to hang out with you anymore, so you got new friends?!"

"W-What? _No!_ It's _nothing_ like that Sai! You are not weak-"

"I AM WEAK!" Yep; he is gonna cry. "I haven't made a single progress for an entire _year_ now. I _suck_ at magic, and my trainers have gone to say that I have the smallest energy reserves of this entire generation. I'm terrible at that book stuff and I can't memorize the things they tell me to, I just can't! The only thing I _thought_ I was good at was fighting, but my _little brother_ won easily against me. And I- I don't even have the…" He grabbed a handful of his shirt, right above his heart, and, like I was expecting, the tears came gushing out. His face shifted into an utterly desolate expression.

"S-Sai. Sai it's alright," Rias tried to hug him and got roughly pushed back.

"NO! You can't… I can't…" His tearful blank eyes swiped around the room, noticing the audience. "F-Fight me. Fight me Rias!"

"W-WHAT!? Why would I-" She got interrupted by a punch, which she instinctively dodged. "Sai, stop!"

"Sairaorg, you are going too far! There is no reason for-" Sona tried to step in, only to become a target herself. She blocked the kick sent her way, and slid out of his range.

The ex-Bael heir didn't stop attacking, and the two girls continued to avoid him and tried to talk him down; all of which only made him more frustrated.

"What the… This is…" Riser mouthed slowly beside me, he looked astonished by the turns of events. "This is shameful."

"No… It's more than that." I felt my fists clenching as I watched the travesty happening before me. "It's _disgusting."_

Something has always bothered me about Rias and Sairorg's relationship in canon. They are allies, they are friendly toward each other, but _they aren't like the Rias and Sairorg I know now._

I don't know Sairaorg well enough to know the details, but it's obvious from hanging out with Rias, and hearing stories from Sona; that Rias and Sairaorg are extremely close friends, _best_ friends in fact, they are frequently at each other's house, constantly in contact with each other, always talking about one another, and their families had practically adopted them as their other child- the mother side of a family in Sairaorg's case. One only needs to look at Rias emotional reaction to Sairaorg's situation to know how much she cares for him.

 _None_ of that is depicted in canon, or at least in the limited canon that I know of. I thought it was because of technical reasons, of the anime not wanting to make time to establish a character that was so close to the main heroine that he could threaten the main character's chances with her. But there is also another possibility… it was possible that something in the past happened that must have put a wrench on their relationship, and downgraded it into the distant camaraderie present in the show.

... This is it; this is the wrench of their relationship. The thing that made them grow apart. If _this_ continued to happen each time she visits, then I could see how this could eat away at their friendship until it was a shadow of its former self.

"Please stop!" Sobbed Rias with a tearful voice. "I don't want to fight you, _please!"_

The crying Sairaorg made a bolder move and ended up triggering Rias' reflects enough for her to strike at his unbalance legs, sending him to the floor. "Ah! S-Sorry!"

The boy _screamed_ against the metal floor and pushed himself back up. Tears and snot marked his face; his purple eyes are dulled by anger and despair.

Disgusting, _utterly_ disgusting.

… Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri, you should be ashamed of yourselves.

That metal floor clanked as I _stomp_ in. _Burying_ my fist in Sairaorg's face and sending him flying backward until he hit the wall on the other side of the room.

 _"I_ will fight you."

"E-Elias!? is really isn't a goo-"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING-"

 _ **"SILENCE!"**_ A bombastic voice and a flash of light and heat indicated that Riser made his move. "You two have done enough!"

I ignored them and focused on the fallen boy before me.

Sairaorg pushed himself to his knees with trembling limbs, still looking dizzy for the sudden strike. He was holding his crushed nose with one hand, the blood dripping between his fingers.

"So how is it gonna be? Are you going to rise to the challenge Sairaorg _No Name,_ or are you going to stay down like a weakling?"

My taunt provoked the boy enough from him to let out an angry scream and jump at me with a feral pounce. I easily slipped inside his careless guard and landed a brutal punch on his midriff for his insolence. He vomited his stomach's content, and fell over the puddle.

"If you're going to fight like an animal, then I will treat you like an animal!" I snarled. "What, did daddy kick you out so hard that you forgot how to fight properly?"

That struck a nerve and he lashed out with a wide arm movement and another angry scream.

I kick down his arm mid-strike, and then kick his injured belly. The last kick was on the injured nose; it threw him back to the wall with a trail of blood.

"Where is that bravado from earlier!?" I barked. The boy didn't respond, he couched, tried to pick himself up, and failed. "What? Is that it!? I guess I was expecting too much form a weakling like you!"

His fingers padded the wall until they find the small gap between metal plates. He used the new leverage to pull himself to his feet with a loud painful groan. I waited patiently for him to stop swaying.

Then, his limbs moved into a proper stance. His purple eyes that were full with directionless anger before now held something different.

"I'm not weak."

 _Finally,_ Now to stroke that ember.

"Prove it," I said, falling into my own fighting stance.

We met in the middle in an aggressive storm of punches and kicks, circling around each order while trying to dominate the fight.

Sairaorg was trained in various martial arts, which is common for a pillar devil who wanted to specialize in close quarter, along those fighting styles was one of the Bael family's secret ones that was extremely effective if used right, but he had a severe disadvantage due to his injuries and his current inability to breathe from his nose. There was also the fact that I was a master in every fighting style that he knew, but I was doing my best to fight at his level.

Still, it wasn't long before I had him cornered.

"You know? I want to fight without holding back, but I fear it would be boring."

"Shut the fuck up!" The sneaky bastard managed to use my own fist to get rid of the weight on his left arm, the others were quick to follow.

Good, he is using his anger correctly.

"Why!" I ducked under his punch. "Can't." Got out of the range of his kick. "I." Parried his elbow. "Hit you!?"

"Less talking, more fighting!"

I ducked again, my ankle hitting a fallen weight and receiving a head-butt for it.

"Got it!" He smiled for the first time in who knows how long.

"Lucky shot, brat!"

The fight lasted for longer then I imagined, I made him work for every hit he managed to land on me, and punished him for every failure.

After a while, I began striking him harder and harder in an attempt to bring him down, but he powered through it.

By the end, he was a bloody, dirty, swollen mess but still trying to stand up.

"Down," I said to the bloody bruise in shaped of a boy. "You will die if we continue Sairaorg."

He made a grumbling noise; his face was too swollen for him to speak clearly, but his brilliant purple eye, the one that could still stay open that is, communicated his unbroken will.

Forcing him down is the only way huh? Fucking stubborn little bastard.

I raised my leg high and brought it down in a vicious axe kick. If it was a human's head, it would have popped like a balloon, but with Sairaorg's it just imprinted his face into the metal floor.

And the motherfucker still punched his broken hands on the floor beside him and tried to push himself off.

I couldn't help but to nod approvingly at his drive, while I kept my weight over his head and suffocated him into unconsciousness.

... Sighing deeply, I kicked him to his back, and made sure he wasn't going to die before I went to collect my jacket that I took off sometime during the fight.

Instead of finding it on the ground, I found it on the hands of Misla Bael, who was watching from the sidelines.

Wait, when did she get there? How long have we been at it?

The woman threw the jacket around my shoulders and gave me a small thankful smile. She brushed her thumb against a bruise I receive on my cheek before moving to take care of her unconscious son.

... Not gonna lie; that made me blush a little. I can't help it; beautiful mothers really do it for me.

Shaking away these thoughts I moved to face the rest of audience.

The first thing I noticed was the ruined state of this part of the room. Looks like another fight had happened parallel to my own, and seeing a growling Rias being pinned on the floor by Riser told me who came out victorious.

I rolled my eyes at the little redhead's murderous glare. Of course…

Sona was looking much better if I say so myself; she was awkwardly rubbing her arms with the bangs of her hair overshadowing her eyes.

Good, I didn't even had to tell her to think about what she'd done, what an obedient girl.

Now, to deal with the unruly one.

Riser shrugged his shoulders at my silent gesture, and released the girl. She immediately lunged at me, as expected.

"YOU! HOW _DARE_ YOU!?" I caught her straight punch; it held a deceptively decent amount of power for its size.

"Rias…"

"YOU LIKE TO BULLY PEOPLE HUH!? LIKE TO FEEL STRONG WHILE YOU BEAT SOMEONE IN A VULNERABLE STATE!?" Her other fist flew, I caught that one too, and the little red-haired tried to turn that into a strength contest.

"Rias!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!? I THOUGHT YOU WERE NICE!" I narrowed my eyes as a few specs of pure destruction began to appear in response to her emotions.

"RIAS _, STOP!"_

The Gremory heiress drew a sharp breath and paused. She slowly turned to look at her dark-haired friend, shocked by the usually quiet girl's outburst.

"We were insulting him Rias," Sona explained bluntly, lowered her eyes with a guilty look. "We were spitting on Sairaorg's pride."

Mmm, a bit more than that, but at least she knows she fucked up.

"Wh-" Rias began but cut herself short. She snapped her confused look to me, then past me, to where Sairaorg laid.

I released her hands as her aquamarine eyes began widening with the horrifying realization.

"I-It can't… What was I… N-No, no, I didn't mean…" She placed her hand over her mouth as a hiccup escaped. "Oh Satans…"

I waited for a few seconds to let it sink in, before finally speaking.

"I think you are consuming a little too much human media, Rias." I moved my reprimanding glare over the Sitri heiress. "You too."

Rias let out a strangled sob, while Sona nodded weakly, still keeping her head down.

I held firm for a few moments before sighing deeply. I can't keep a hard face when cute kids are like that… maybe they aren't the only one who are a little too human.

"There is nothing inherently wrong with that, and it might even be a good thing in the long run, who knows? But clashes are bound to happen. If you continue like that, someone will get hurt." Who this 'someone' is debatable though. "Just… Don't forget what you are, in the end… And think about this."

"I really didn't mean it…" Whined Rias in a small voice.

I patted her on the head and left her to her own thoughts. I tried with Sona too, and gained a partly thankful, partly annoyed look in response.

"Hn! Look at who is talking!" Huffed Riser as we left the girls to their thoughts and went to sit at the stairs. "The Great Me would have left them to drown in their own shame!"

"Meh, I do what I like," I responded to the annoying bird boy.

"Whatever…" He cracked his neck. "…We never get to hunt that Cockatrice."

"We killed that Bael demon though."

"HN! The Phenex's Cockatrices are stronger!" Riser declared, clearly trying to compensate.

I chuckled and began to mull over what happened in these last few hours

All and all, it was fun coming here, I got to experience what an original Satan deathbed is like for the first time, and this experience will undoubtedly be useful for the trip I'm planning in the future, plus watching these kids unite to fight against that mantis thing was a blast. I got to see the true extent of the Vapulas' power, and the Furcas' if they follow the same logic with their horses, and met an A-grade Milf that is a hot momma to boot; meeting those always makes my day.

And Sairaorg Bael… I never noticed how _interesting_ he is, the way he got back up each time he got down… That boy got a fire in him.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to keep contact, maybe visit from time to time using Rias as an excuse-

"Hey minion, it's getting boring, let's go do something!"

Of course, I can always trust Riser to interrupt my mental monologue.

I opened my mouth to respond, but got interrupted by a sweet voice.

"Ara, that is perfect! I do have something for you to do!"

Misla Bael appeared carrying the prone form of Sairaorg Bael, with a better-looking Sona and Rias trailing after her.

"Why don't you two kind boys help me get my son to bed. Then we'll talk about the chores he was supposed to do today." She made a smiling evil face at me in particular.

Oh boy.

-0-0-0-

…What am I doing here?

"SO! My glorious golden phoenix will attack your worthless mutt with her mighty 3000 attack points!"

"Not so fast! you activated my trap card!"

"NANI!?"

Seriously, what am I doing here? I know I said I'd be visiting Sairaorg, but I didn't mean _two days_ after I made that decision .

Now I'm in a sofa so soft that I fear I might sink on it if I wasn't careful, with a growling Riser Phenex and a mummified Sairaorg playing a children card game in the low coffee table before me.

The small table cracked under the weight of Riser's tantrum.

"WHAT!? You can't do that, IT'S AGAINST THE RULES!"

"No, I'm pretty sure it's within the rules, at least the ones that Rias told us." The mummified boy shrugged, he managed to do so without wincing this time. "And besides…" He opens a lopsided smile. "What are rules anyway?"

I took my eyes away from them as Riser began to Reee and moved up to where the large human television stood. There was a way-too-attractive loli ass parked in the air beside it, and a huge, and way-more-attractive MILF one in the same position.

"And then, you put the yellow tipped cable in the same colored hole…" The tv suddenly lights up. Rias' upper body popped out from behind it to check. "Voila!" She said cheerfully.

"Myyy." Lady Misla also got out from behind the tv, to see the logo of the DVD player moving around the screen. She took a page of my Mother's fashion sense and was wearing a casual wear so tiny that'd probably break the decency laws of some countries. "The human's technology is so fascinating!" She beamed, clapping her hands enthusiastically.

I watched all of that with a blank expression on my face, until Sona entered the room.

"The popcorns are ready." She announced, presenting a large bucket of popcorn while five more buckets floated behind her, propelled by small magic circles. "Or I think so? I never did anything like this. I'm sorry if they're burned."

…What am I doing here, seriously? Shouldn't I be training or something?

"Alright!" Declared a smiling Rias after she turned the lights off. "The series we gonna binge today is one of my favorites, so everybody shut up and enjoy it!"

"Language, young lady!"

"Gah! Sorry, aunty."

The show started. Immediately, very familiar images began to appear, together with a very familiar song.

 _'_ _ **I wanna be the very best,**_

 _ **Like no one ever was'**_

…There is literally no benefit for me being here.

 _'_ _ **To catch them is my real test,**_

 _ **To train them is my cause (Ooh ooh ooh!)'**_

… I'm not placating the eyes of devil society, or gaining brownie points with the kid's families by being here.

 _'_ _ **I will travel across the land.**_

 _ **Searching far and wide'**_

… Hell, I'm pretty sure they don't even know that we are gathered here.

So why the hell did I come!?

There was a soft tug on my sleeve; I blinked, and turned to find a blushing Sona Sitri, offering her bucket of popcorn to me.

"Hum… W-Would you like some… E-Ely?"

The smile came easily; it set comfortably in my face. The way the girl perked because of it almost made me laugh.

What an adorable little devil.

"Sure, I'd love to!"

I was about to put the popcorn on my mouth when I froze, the obvious realization dawning on me.

…

… Oh fuck.

 _ **'Ooh, you're my best friend.**_

 _ **In a world we must defend'**_

 _ **(Pokémon!)**_


	22. Interlude 4

Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back at QQ forum

Interlude 4

* * *

The city of Heimsfell glittered under the artificial sunlight. For once, the bustling streets were free of the ever-present snow and chilling breeze, something only made possible by the hundreds of devils gathered at the city barrier's spell cores, working hard to let their friends, families, and betters enjoy a few warm days of 'summer'.

In one of the city's commercial hub, right in the middle of a famous, historical street, under the façade of one of the imposing building, was a comfy family café. And in that café, there was a trio of individuals that have been hoarding most of the attention since they arrived.

Women of that level of beauty are rarely seen after all.

"Hummmm~." Bella's melodic moan echoed throughout the establishment, making various devils around her shift uncomfortably and adjust their pants.

The woman smacked her bright, pink lips back on the thick plastic straw and sucked more of the creamy white subsistence at the other end, her cheeks narrowed slightly in a downright alluring way while her beautiful red eyes rolled in delight.

Her companions and anyone lucky enough to have turned their gaze at the right moment watched with bated breaths.

"Mm~!" She arched her back as the sweet cold substance hit her playful tongue, making a near-perfect mold of her tremendous female assets appear on the fabric of her dress. Her lips soon left the straw while her mouth closed tightly to keep what she has gathered inside. With a long hum of satisfaction she tilted her head up to the ceiling, and her slightly sweaty throat bulged up and down in the loud gulps that followed as she slurped the last remains of the sweet, sweet substance that painted the insides of her mouth white.

Bella huffed satisfyingly as she dropped her head. Her delicate hand coming to rest of her cheek.

"Ahh, This vanilla milkshake is so good!" She beamed, releasing the hold she unknowingly had over the entire café.

"Was that... Was that on purpose?" A metallic voice inquired from the side. Cleria by that point regretted her new style of choice; being around Bella made her _sweat_ , and the helmet was only making it worse.

By that point, Belinda finally recovered from the panties wetting sight.

"Elias is not there, so probably not…" She soon realized her mistake as the object of her affection froze on her place. "Wait, crap!"

"ELYYYY!" The snow-haired woman suddenly wailed with exaggerated amounts of tears spilling from her eyes. She dropped her head on the table beside the milkshake with a cloud of gloominess forming above her head. "Ahh, Mommy is so happy that you're spending time with your cute friends, b-b-but MOMMY IS SO LONELY NOW!"

"K-Keep it down, will you?" Belinda said, catching the glass that had slipped out of Cleria's hand while her mental binds rebooted what she just heard. "You can't keep saying thing like that out loud."

"Sooory Lindaaa." Bella rolled her head to the side revealing a cutely crying red eye. "It's just that…I'm sooo happppy, and sooo ssaad at the same time. MOOOU! Elyyyy! You're growing up too fast!"

The Dantalion's head maid sighed. Her lady was reacting well to Elias' constant travels, amazingly well even, considering what used to happen when she didn't see her son for more than a few hours in the past, but she has been… complicated to deal with in different ways.

She had hoped that this trip would alleviate her bouts of depression, and it did, it really did. She's been talkative, relaxed, fun and occasionally letting out a carefree laugh that only a woman touring a big city with an unlimited credit card budget would make, but whenever the subject of Elias came up - and with her, it came out quite frequently - she started to flip flop.

Cleria's mind finished resetting itself into the appropriated narrative, and she moved again. "What a drama." She grumbled, resting her helmet on her fist. "It's not like he goes away for months at a time or even weeks. Is his dick really that good?"

"Yup. Best I had."

Cleria blinked in surprise and frustration by the woman's near instantaneous response.

In truth she had come to this shopping trip hoping to reenact what had happened during their last one; to continue where they left off, so to speak. Sure, she was genuinely enjoying herself, and burning ludicrous amount of money looting the most expensive stores and boutiques of the city was always a pleasant experience no matter which region, but the frilled little white sundress and knuckle-bitingly tight stockings were just _demanding_ her to do something. To her dismay, however; the Dantalion courtesan's mind falls back to the memories of her young lover wherever she got too grabby, and there are only so many blows her pride could take.

"Ehhh," She deadpanned, her voice utterly blank. "That's impressive I guess, especially considering his age. I can't imagine he'd manage to go too deep. But I guess it should be something from the way you two act whenever you decide to show up, Bella." A hard seed of curiosity was growing inside her; Elias was becoming pretty yummy to look at, after all.

"It's not just that." Whined the depressed woman, "I just finished this new galactic sweater. You see, I enchanted the star formations so they'd constantly sparkle and move around to make it look like he's wearing a piece of the night sky… Ahhhh Elllly! Mommy wants to see it so badly!"

Belinda brought her drink to her lips and focused on the new information; it was much better for her human upbringing than the talk about a twelve-year-old's sexual prowess…and she was aware of her own hypocrisy. That sweater actually sounds quite impressive.

The blonde maid almost spat her drink when the helmet wearing woman on her side spoke; she'd expected her to be in a bound-induced trance for her lady's slip of words.

"A sweater, really? What are you, his mother?" Cleria laughed.

"Yeah."

Belinda actually spat her drink this time. Cleria just tilted her head.

"…Is this a sex thing?"

"SO!" Belinda cuts in as Bella opened her mouth to answer. With the attention on her, she tried to steer the conversation to a less dangerous path. "Cleria, how did you like your first proper tour of the Dantalion's capital city?"

"You guys really should refrain from using that name out in the open…" Cleria muttered, then sighed. "It's fine, I guess, but I'm not really interested in cities I can't familiarize myself with, and if these last few months were any indication, I'm not going to spend much time around here." Elias had sent her to various missions since her employment began, all of them taking her far away from the Dantalion's land. Pretty soon she would be leaving again for her next assignment in the Agares' floating lands. The recent actions of the Crimson Sabbath had left the place full of chaos and social-ladder climbers, and some... wrong-minded families could afford to take a fall. "It's prettier than the real Moscow that's for sure."

"This is the real Moscow." Mouthed Bella, still keeping her head in the table. She had folded the milkshake's straw so she could drink from the position. "Yuri Dolgorukiy was a Dantalion's contractual slave. The reason he went around fortifying villages was to one day built a city in the likeness of his masters. Moscow was the one that got the closest."

Cleria's helmet stayed locked in the position for a few seconds.

"… I have no idea who that guy is."

"He's the human who founded Moscow."

"Oh… And how, no, why do you know that?" Cleria knew nothing about this; human history was an afterthought for her and for most of the devil of her birth status; they only got interested if it affected them directly, or if the other factions were involved.

"Ely liked to read history books when he was little. We read so many together… Bwuaaa! He was so small and cute back then! Elllyyy!"

Both women groaned. Belinda's hand went to the bridge of her nose.

"You know, you could always hijack his eyes to see how he's doing…" She suggested offhandedly. It took a single second for her to realize her mistake, she almost cursed when she did so.

Too late, Bella had already sprung to action; her whole body perked up immediately, with her breasts making a distracting bounce as she straightened herself on her seat.

"I can do that? Wait, of course I can!" Big crimson eyes shined before she closed them tightly.

Belinda had thought about this option during one of her lady's early depression episodes, but she figured it would do more damage than good, and now that she babbled out she had just confirmed that; she essentially gave a manic, obsessive stalker a twenty-four seven video stream to the object of her obsession.

She could only hope Elias denies her access.

"AHHH! They're having a cinema session? _That's adorable!"_

… Oh, what was she expecting?

"Hehehe, Riser is drooling on his shoulder, what will you do now Ely? Oh! That must have hurt… They get along so well!"

Cleria slowly put her drink on the table "Okay, what the hell is that?" She commented quietly, watching their white-haired friend giggling to herself like a madwoman. "Is that a spell or something- no, I can't feel any magic, so what could possibly-" She stopped, her head slowly turning toward Belinda. "Please tell me she is not hallucinating."

 _"Hehehe, little Sona is so cute!"_

"You know what, it's better not to think about it." Belinda could already imagine what a nightmare it would be, bringing her lady back to reality. She turned and waved to the waitress who had frozen still like most of the café. The girl yelped at the sudden attention and nearly stumbled on her way to their table.

"Y-YES!" She said in a high-pitched voice, "N-uh- I mean, h-how can I help you?" She said with an enormous blush, utterly failing to keep her thighs from rubbing together when the cool beauty's intense blue eyes fell upon her.

Belinda smiled politely, ignoring the slight exclamation that got from the girl. "Yes, could you fetch us the bill, please… wait, hold on- hey, you still want anything?" She asked her helmet-wearing friend.

The woman was pinching one of Bella's soft cheeks, while she giggled a comment about the Gremory heiress. "I'm good."

"Just the bill please." She said.

"Yes, _ma'am."_ The girl unconsciously moaned the word. She slapped her notepad over her mouth. "I-I-I mean, yes ma'am, right away ma'am!" The waitress practically ran away to the back, eager to finish the unforgettable table and spent the rest of her shift in the bathroom, taking take of her problem.

Belinda frowned as she watched the girl go. "Look at what you did."

"Pardon?" Cleria stopped poking Bella's right breast.

"This damn helmet you insist in wearing. Ugh!" She thought back on the numerous looks they got throughout the city. "People think we're creeps!"

"My helmet? Hah! I could be wearing a blood-soaked wedding dress with a shining rainbow wig, and people still wouldn't notice me close to you two."

Belinda considered that for a moment.

"…Alright, you do have point, Bella does have a tendency to steal all the attention-"

"Hellloooo! Didn't you hear what I said?" Cleria rolled her eyes under her helmet. "'You two' Belinda, I said 'you two'. Miss innocence and sluttiness right there does an excellent job attracting lecherous eyes everywhere she goes, but you are also getting a fair share of perverted looks."

"Please." Belinda drank the last of her drink. "I'm hot, but I'm nowhere near close to Bella's level, I accepted that long ago."

"Correction, you _were_ hot. Now you are _mind-blowingly hot."_ Cleria growled. What the hell is up with that anyway? Is there something in the Dantalion household that turns women into the perfect wet dream versions of themselves? How the hell could she get some of that for herself? "Seriously, have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately?"

"Yes, I did, this morning." The head maid said blankly. She had seen what she sees every day for decades; a statuesque woman with brilliant golden hair and piercing blue eyes; her usual self…

Her eyes completely failed to notice the lack of any imperfections, the microscopic redistribution of fat, and the new _presence_ she started to radiate. "I found nothing out of ordinary."

"Wait, you're kidding right? What about your body? You _must_ have noticed how much curvier you are now!"

Belinda narrowed her eyes. "Are you calling me fat?"

" _'Are you calling me fa_ \- seriously? 'Bitch, I'm calling you hot!"

Preposterous, Belinda thought as she humphed. She was intricately familiar with every inch of her body; every warrior worth their salt would. She'd certainly have noticed if any proportion of her body had been altered.

… Although, it was a bit of a challenge to pass her pants over the curve of her backside this morning, and her shirt does feel a tad tight.

Belinda's eyes widened with the horrifying realization. Oh Satans, she really was fat-

 _*C-Crack*_

A quiet cracking sound could be heard, and a long fracture gradually spread over the once immaculate wooden table.

The blonde maid almost cursed, but then she noticed that she wasn't the cause of the property damage this time.

Both women followed the crack to the source.

…

"U-um Bella, is something wrong?"

The white-haired beauty was sitting _deadly still_ on the chair. Her neutral expression and closed eyes could almost be called serene. The gentle way she laid her hands over the table would've added to the picture if it wasn't for the collection of cracks spreading under her fingers.

Cleria blinked confusedly at the uncharacteristic display, while Belinda, the more experienced of the two, started to brace herself. None of them dared to move.

Suddenly, Bella's gorgeous face inflated into a comically adorable pout.

She shot to her feet in the next instant. The bang of the chair falling behind her made the battle maids flinch. Her eyes had finally opened, and they were burning with righteous anger and fiery determination. _"Tighter clothes!_ Tighter, smaller, more revealing! I'm going to need the big guns!" She declared, starting to match toward the exit. _"Mommy is not going to lose!"_

"W-What the hell was that!?" Cleria finally found her voice.

"I don't know," Belinda said rising from the table. "But it got Elias' name all over it."

"What!?... H-Hey who's gonna pay!?"

-0-0-0-

Araneya Dantalion, currently known as Bella the Courtesan, strode through the streets of Heimsfell like she owned the place, which she technically does. Her bottom swayed from side to side making their tight leather prison creak pleasantly, the high string of her newly purchased underwear framing the creamy hips above. Her new fur-trimmed, leopard-printed jacket flopped in the wind, accentuating the vivid purple of her top, which while not really tight by itself, completely failed to cover her mammoth sized breasts properly, leaving a considerable amount of underboobs, along with a wonderfully trim belly and beautiful bellybutton in the leering view of the world.

Wherever she went, eyes followed.

This is it; this will show that crafty cat lady who's the boss! Who does she think she is, trying to seduce her son like that? She hadn't given her permission yet! It was against the rules! But no matter, the moment Ely looks at his devoted mother in her new battle outfit is the moment he will forget everything about that skank.

Bella felt her lips curling into a silly smile as Ely started to probe her mind as he sensed that she had prepared a surprise. Naughty, naughty boy, only when you get back!

She pushed back his attempts playfully, forming a token defense against his token attack, soon their superficial thoughts and emotions began to blend together in a mushy concoction of love and longing.

It was easy to forget their mental bond, it was there for so many years and they had grown so familiar with it, that it's hard to notice its presence. Exchanging thoughts and feelings has become so ingrained in their typical conversations that they are quick to forget that they don't have to be in the physical presence of one another to do that.

Ely is always with her; how could she forget that? She is always one thought away from feeling his presence, basking on his energy, dwelling into his thoughts, all she needed now was to wrap her arm around him, and the world would reach perfection.

He started poking her mind to invoke the sensations of their embrace. Ahh, what a good son, what did she do to deserve him?

"Eh!" She was suddenly pulled out of Eliasland by a hand landing on her left buttock "Wh-What? _Ah!_ " Skillful fingers began exploring the vast area, applying just the right amount of pressure on exactly the right places. "L-Linda! What are you-Mmmm~" she had to bite her tongue to keep the volume down as a finger wandered a bit too low.

 _"Careful."_ Said the handsome blonde maid with a heavy chuckle. "If you walk around all innocent and defenseless while dressed like that, someone might molest you…" She leaned in and nibbles the edges of the shorter woman's ear.

Bella shivered. "M-Mou… You are the one molesting me." She whined cutely.

"Me?" She shivered again by the hot breath, right on her sensitive ears. "I'm just demonstrating the dangers."

O-Oh my, maybe she teased her a bit too much at the clothing store. P-People are beginning to notice, perhaps they should…

Another body pressed her on the other side, and once again a grabbing hand fell on her buttock, making her yelp.

"That was very bold of you, little courtesan, very bold indeed~ leaving us all hot and bothered like that… terrible idea to do that to a devil you know?"

Cleria wasn't familiar with Bella's body like Belinda was, but she made up for it with enthusiasm and experience. The new aggressive technique was enough to yank a few succulent notes from the squirming woman in the middle.

This is no good! A assault in two fronts! Bella felt her thoughts starting to blur as she began to push her hips back to the pleasurable touches.

More people were turning to watch. Bella noticed a camera.

"T-That's no good we need to- Nooo Ely, if you send these mental images now, mommy'll…"

She felt her legs weakening beneath her; luckily there were two bodies to keep her standing. They, of course, took advantage of the weakness to spread her legs more.

"Hey, woman what the hell are you doing getting all touching feely like that?" Bella heard the conversation above her but couldn't focus properly on it.

"What? I've been through the same teasing hell you have! I deserve some action too. Besides, she already established she doesn't mind on our last trip."

"Last time was different. She was using you to put on a show for Elias. But to do this now is different; you need to woo her first."

Fingers went lower and lower, spreading her legs further and further, more and more people were watching, some were filming even! Oh Satans, Bella realized they've started to pull down her shorts, threatening to reveal her most secret place to the growing audience.

A part of her wanted them to stop... yet, another, louder one, wanted them to _hurry_. She licked her lips while her mind dwelled in her delightfully shameful predicament.

"Well, she is not complaining." Cleria whispered under her breath as she watched Bella's ass pushing against her hand. Besides, this is something that's within her right to do, the courtesan shouldn't expect anything less after that session of teasing; it was clearly an invitation if she ever saw one.

The helmet-wearing woman smiled as the courtesan placed her hands over her mouth to stop the loud moans. Satans! How long has it been since she last felt a womanly body squirming under her touch, since she last felt they let out their whispers and cries of passion? Too long, just too damn long; she's going to rectify this mistake immediately.

A particular point on her back flared in terrible pain; boiling lines of suppressive magic traversed her entire body, her mind jumped back to _–"I am not an animal to be hunted._ _ **Bitch!"**_ _-_

"GAH!" She jumped back.

Bella whined and leaned her trembling body on Belinda, finally gaining some respite due to the cessation on the most aggressive attack. The blonde maid looked at her fellow with a raised eyebrow. She expected more of a fight.

Her eyes narrowed when she noticed the heavy panting and stiff shoulders.

"You're okay?"

"Ye-ah." The woman croaked. "I-I'm fine really … just not really in the mood…"

Belinda frowned, she seems to be in a good mood a second ago…

A muffed hum escaped her throat as she felt a small, wet mouth nibble her neck. She tugged her eyes down to a pair of smoldering rubies.

"Alleyway. _Now!"_

…It was hard to separate Bella the courtesan from the Lady of the Dantalions; her voice carried an unquestionable mandate; there was nothing Belinda could do but obey.

Until they were right before the mouth of an alley at least, at that moment Belinda's sharp senses flared. And that was something she couldn't ignore no matter how beautiful the woman in her arms was, because it could jeopardize her lady's safety.

"Linda, _please!"_ The head maid gulped, hearing the boiling request murmured against the skin for her neck, but managed to rein back her base urges.

"I can't, my lady." A slip, she hoped Cleria hadn't heard that. It would be annoying to drag her mindless body around. "There is danger there."

"Eh?" The warning knocked back some senses back to Bella's mind. She turned to look at the dark entrance for a few moments; soon, her own senses began to catch something.

She scrunched her nose in frustration. "Mouuuu…"

"Quite so." Belinda sighted, completely agreeing. She pulled the collar of her shirt to let some cold air in, hoping that it would help calm her nerves. "Do you want me to check? It might be a good idea to know what it is, considering how close it was to the main street."

Bella pushed her lips, "No, I got this." She said, feeling the usual eagerness that manifested whenever she has the opportunity to use her powers.

Years of struggling to even move her shadow had made her believe she was born with no talent for the craft, but then come Ely, and of course it was Ely, who else could've been, he masterfully figure out the weird relation between her shadow and Abby, and designed a seal to hold most of the shadow creature's 'weight', freeing Bella's shadow for the first time in her life. She now relishes any and every opportunity to prove the world she was not a Dantalion failure like it was whispered to her back so many times.

She was not as good as Ely of course, but that was only natural, because Ely is Ely and he is perfect in every way, and there was no one that could match up to him, but spreading her perception throughout the length of a shadowy alley was well within her capabilities.

So she did; with a brief moment of concentration she connected her shadow to the ones in the alley and opened her senses to it. Her head immediately ached from the vast amount of information that was transmitted, and she once again praised her perfect son in her mind; he made it look so easy.

Nevertheless, she has become aware of everything happening within the place, from the population of rats and insect ruminating on the thrash containers, the rustling of old pipes on the side of the buildings, the snoring of a homeless devil far to the end on the other side, and… and… right in the middle…

Her body was moving before she finished processing what she saw, Belinda followed behind without hesitation, easily keeping up the pace, Cleria was the last to react to the burst of movement, but soon she was on their tail.

Bella was the first to turn the corner and see the three men. Each was wielding a different weapon and one of them was lifting a brown sack over his broad shoulder.

"Stop right there!" She shouted, not breaking her pace.

The men turned to her and one of them step forward, but bit back whatever he was going to say when he realized she wasn't planning to stop. Instead, he took a firm step forward, quickly drawing his long saber in a movement akin to an Iaidō drawing strike.

Bella quickly slid under the blade, rapidly twisting her body to strike the pressure points along the man's arm. She invaded his guard at the same speed, leaving a limp limb and a falling sword behind her. Unfortunately, she underestimated the speed of her momentum and accidentally crushed his throat when she went for a paralyzing point on his neck.

She recovered as quickly as she could, but the incident broke her pace, and not only that, but the heavy bounce of her chest threw her off balance. She winced in the back of her mind; getting rid of her enchanted bra at the store for the sake of sexiness was a bad idea.

The pause in the assault gave the other man enough time to put three arrows in the air. There wasn't enough time to deflect the first one, so she will have to risk a scratch on her right shoulder and focus on the others; she hoped they weren't poisoned.

Luckily, a golden blur passed her by and snatched the arrow midair. The three other arrows, including a new one the man had managed to release, were caught in the three subsequent steps. The man dropped the bow and went for his dagger but froze when he met the _look_ on his opponent's face. In the next instant, Belinda buried all the arrows in the head of the man who dared to raise his weapon at her beloved.

The last man didn't stay to chat, of course, he was already moving before the first man died, and now was making the last jump to reach the roof.

He came face to face with a woman wearing a medieval helmet. Soon after, he crashed on the ground with a heavy impact, his neck audibly snapping.

Bella watched as the sack arched in the air and started to fall.

"CATCH!" She shouted, and Belinda reacted instantly. She jumped, snatched the thing, and used the wind magic to land gracefully, all in a continuous movement.

"Thank Satans!" Bella ran to check on them, Belinda appreciated the way she bounced while doing so. "Is she ok?"

"She?" Belinda mouthed, and the sack suddenly kicked her in the face, the surprise made her drop it.

"AH!" Bella lunged to catch the struggling sack; she barely managed to before it hit the ground. "Careful!"

"S-Sorry." Belinda rubbed her cheek while their last companion landed beside her.

"It's alright, you don't have to be afraid," Bella whispered kindly to the sack, enduring the kicks as she placed it down and tear it open.

It's was a girl, a tiny girl with brilliant white hair and round golden eyes, she was wearing only a ruffled red dress of surprisingly high quality, her hands were tied behind her back, and she had a duct tape was covering her mouth. But her most distinct traits were on top of her head and waving behind her.

"Nekomata?" Cleria whispered quietly.

Then the girl promptly kicked Bella in the face, using the momentum the action caused to jump away from them and land on a trash container. Her hands, free of binds, were already ripping the duct tape.

"W-Wait," Bella cried holding her redden nose. "We're not with them! You don't have to-"

"Shirone doesn't nyunderstand your weird nyanguage!" The girl shouted in a weirdly accented Japanese, the tape had left a comical rectangular mark around her mouth. "NYAA! You ruined Shirone's plans! Now she has to find another group to catnap her!"

"…Eh?" Bella blinked confusedly.

"Did she just say she was trying to be kidnapped?" Cleria commented out loud.

Belinda frowned, "Hey girl, I'm not familiar with your kind's customs but it's not polite to-"

By that point, the girl had seen the bodies.

"N-NYAAAAA! E-verybody's dead! Nyurderers! Help!"

"… Now what?"

-0-0-0-

Dirty plates clicked together in an impossibly fast pace while loud chewing and slurping sounds filled the air. One by one, numerous dishes messily disappeared into a hungry mouth.

"Woah…" Cleria mouthed metallically.

"Where the hell is she putting all of that?" Belinda asked incredulously.

"So _cute!"_ Hummed Bella, resting her face on her hands while she watched the adorable white-haired child; those were her weaknesses.

The three women had quickly realized what to do when a loud stomach growl broke through the nekomata's comical freak out. They were quick to bring her to a nearby restaurant where she proceeded to _inhale_ the food.

The terrified waiter placed the last dish on the table and ran back to the kitchen; the plate was quickly emptied and added to the pile, the little girl responsible for it let out a loud satisfied belch.

"Nya! That nyas delicious! Thanks, Big-tittied Onyee-chan!"

Bella giggled, casually shifting to the catgirl's language "You're welcome sweetie! Though you shouldn't be saying something like that to someone you just met, it's impolite."

"Nya? What are you nyalking about? Shirone remembered to say thanks this time!"

"Alright kid." Belinda leaned in, placing her hands on the table. "Now that you're full, can you answer some questions? Who were that men? Why were you trying to be taken by them, and where are your parents-" The tiny girl turned her head to the side with a pout. "What?"

"Onyee-chan told Shirone to not talk to strangers and nyeirdos!"

Cleria snorted while Belinda pinched her nose in frustration.

"Yeah kid, you tell the strange lady who-"

"Shut up nyeirdo!"

This time it Belinda's turn to laugh. It was impossible to see Cleria's expression, but the trembling fist gave away what she was feeling. "If only you weren't a brat…"

"Now, now, sweetie, we are trying to help you remember? Can you tell us where your parents are?"

"Shirone don't know Big-tittied Onyee-chan. It was only been Shirone and Kurone-onyee-chan for forever!" The girl responded, not looking particularly bothered about it.

"Hey! Why are you talking to her? Aren't we strangers-"

"I see." Bella continued, ignoring Cleria's remark. "Then, can you tell us where your Onee-chan is?"

"Who cares?! Probable in anyother boring meeting- _NYA!"_ She girl crossed her arms and pouted aggressively.

"I-I see. Then Shirone-chan," the Dantalion's courtesan leaned in, lowering her tone of voice. "Who were those men? And why are you seeking them?"

The catgirl frowned and threw her firsts into the air. "They're meanies! Shirone was just nyalking around, looking for something to do in this boring place, and then they put a nyack over my head and catnapped me! Can you believe it!?"

The three women share a look.

Kidnapping, was an unfortunately common practice wherever you go, no matter the dimension. The kidnapper could've been after a hefty ransom if the quality of Shirone's dress was any indication of the wealth of her guardians, but considering where they were, and the customs of their race, it was most likely other reason.

Child trafficking- or any kind of sapient trafficking really- was extremely prevalent in the underworld, even more so than on the human world, most likely due to the advent of evil pieces system and their race's… primal tendencies. Shirone's race only strengthens that possibility, there aren't many races besides the usual hellish ones in the underworld, and those who are, usually don't stay the same race for very long. That makes the nekomata girl _exotic_.

And being exotic in the underworld is a very dangerous thing.

"You mean they tried, right? We saved you." Cleria pointed out.

"No nyeirdo! They did catnap Shirone, Nya! They even brought her to a dirty old place like in the movies, it stinks!"

"Hm, You talked to us this time," Belinda commented victoriously.

 _"NYA!_ You tricked me!"

"Now, now let's keep focus…" Said Bella sending Belinda a dirty look. "So, you have been kidnapped Shirone-chan? So how come you're here with us?"

"Shirone escaped!" The girl declared puffing her chest with pride.

Cleria tilted her head. "A pipsqueak like you. How did you do it?"

Instead of getting riled up by the small jab, the girl snapped her hand over her mouth.

"It's a secret, Nya! Onyee-chan said I absonyutely can't tell anyone!"

"Ahhh." The three women gushed in various degrees of volume; Shirone's overwhelming cuteness was starting to get to them.

"S-So, if Shirone-chan managed to escape, then why are you trying to get catna- I mean kidnapped again?"

"Because they still have Kuro-chan, and Shirone can't let them-NYA! KURO-CHAN! SHIRONE FORGOT!" She quickly jumped to her feet. "I have to rescue Kuro-chan!" She shouted rushing toward the door.

"Shirone-chan!"

"… I'm going to have to foot the bills again aren't-"

Bella burst outside and snapped her face up, managed to catch a snow-white tail disappearing over the edge of the roof. She quickly made her way up, reaching the edge just as Shirone was leaping between buildings, a testament to the girl's agility.

But she's still just a young girl, and the three women were trained warriors with various degree of experience. So, just as she reached the apex of her arc, Belinda shot up from beneath, like a shark ambushing its prey.

"Release me Nyaa! Shinore has to save Kuro-chan!" The catgirl bellowed as they landed, Belinda was carrying her beneath her arm like a sack of potatoes.

"Sorry about that kid, but we can't just let you leave like that."

The girl struggled under the maid's iron grip. "V-Villains! You were working with the bad guys all along! You wanted Shirone to spill her plans! _NYAAA!_ SHIRONE IS GOING TO NYACTIVATE HER RAGE MODE!"

Belinda sighted. "It's nothing like that kid, it's just-" Then, she felt her hair on the back of her neck rise. "What the?"

Bella stepped in. She had quickly realized the situation was about to drastically change; there was a deep foreboding feeling in the air, like a timebomb about to blow. She pushed the speed of her thoughts to have more time to process.

The source of increasing feeling of danger was obvious, Shirone, still struggling against Belinda's grip, had a thin transparent aura that was starting to flare around her, the fur on her animal features started to look ruffled and wild, and there was a bulge pushing the skin of her lower hip, right beside the base of her tail.

She needed… yes!

Thinking quickly… On a literal sense; Bella thoughts slow down to match the speed of the world again, and she immediately shot her hand forward in a controlled strike.

A long moment passed, and nothing happened.

"Eh?" The catgirl blinked. "Nya?... Nyeh?... NYEHHH!?" The girl gasped as the familiar feeling that she always had suddenly became out of her reach. "Nani!? Nani!? What did you do to Shirone!?"

Bella sighed, removing her fingers from the pressure point on the back of the girl's neck.

In a combat situation, against an adult humanoid, without striking a sequence of pressure points first, the move would only disturb their internal energies for a couple of seconds at best. But now, with a small girl being held in place, it could last up to an hour. Belinda sent her an almost proud look.

"N-NYA! R-Release Shirone right now! I-I nyarn you! M-M-My onyee-chan is super strong you know!?" The girl struggles started to lessen as she grew tired. "U-Um Shirone will... I will..."

For the first time since they met the girl, there was a note of genuine fear on her voice.

"No, no, it's not like that Shirone-chan!" Bella said quickly, kneeling so she could talk at the girl's eye level. "We are not on the bad guy's side at all, Big-Titted onee-chan promise!"

"Oh, ok." The girl bounces back immediately. "Then why are you in Shirone's way nya!? This is so annoying nya! Shirone had to get to Kuro-chan quickly, nya!"

"Still not getting it kid?" Belinda said, playfully slapping the girl's bottom. "We're gonna help you."

"HEY!- wait what? You gonnya help Shirone?" Her big confused eyes made Bella mentally squeal due to their sheer cuteness.

"That's right sweetie!" Bella said with a smile. "Your friend is in trouble, right? There is no way we could leave that alone.

Shirone blinked a few times, and then exploded in pure jubilation. "NYATTA! THE SUPER STRONG NYUDERERS ARE GOING TO HELP SHIRONE! KURO-CHAN IS ALL BUT SAVED!"

"Sweet Satans! This girl can shout." Belinda released the hyperactive grenade down, it immediately started to bounce around the roof. "So, we're saving kidnapped kids now?"

The courtesan send her a look. "Do you have any objections?"

"Of course not, but where are we going to find them?"

"Oh right." Bella turned to the energetic catgirl. "Shirone, sweetie, do you remember where the 'meanies' took you when you were kidnapped?" She called.

The girl froze immediately. "Oh." Then, her golden colored eyes widened. "OH NO!"

"What wrong?"

"Shirone went back as soon as she renyalized Mimi-chan wasn't with her, but they weren't there when she arrived! That's why we need to be catnapped again!" She grabbed the side of her head in despair. "But who would catnap a couple of old ladies like you!?"

"Oi brat! Who are you calling old lady! I have you know they are _more likely_ to kidnap a couple of hot, full figured women than a flat chested little kid!" Part of Belinda was questioning the merit of arguing with said brat, but her pride spoke louder.

"Nya!" Shirone crossed her arm over her chest enraged. "Not fair, only because Shirone is snyall! I'll nyave you know that when she grows up, they will be bigger than Onyee-chan! No, bigger than Big-titted Onyee-chan! Then you'll see who's the boss!"

Bella giggled as the maid and the little girl growled at each other, well, more like hissed in the girl case. "Common 'Linda, we're supposed to be the adults here, remember?"

The maid huffed. "That's rich coming from-" She bit her tongue almost as quickly as she started to speak, but the damage was already done; She deserved to be cast up to heavens for her insolence.

Bella just giggled again at her silly maid's reaction, booming on the inside. A snarky Belinda is a casual Belinda, and seeing Belinda acting casual around her presence always does wonders for her mood, if only she'd learned to do that when she wasn't dressed as Bella.

"A thousand apologies my-Guh." Bella pinched Belinda's cheek to stop her silliness; the maid was quick to get the message.

"We have a problem on our hands." Said the courtesan calmly.

"Clearly, they could be anywhere, hell we don't even know who 'they' are." Belinda raised her hand to cup her cheek, trying to prolong the sensations; Bella's touches… lingered. "I could scout the entire city for clues."

The white-haired beauty shook her head at the suggestion. "It would take too long, and I don't want them with Shirone's friend for longer than necessary."

"Hum… Asking questions then? I heard the newbie Elias is dragging around has some connections…"

"Same time problem." Bella poked her fingers together and avoided her eyes. "I was thinking a more… err direct approach."

"A direct approach?" Bella repeated confusedly, but soon, her eye's widened in realization "Wait are you sure?" Bella nodded, and Belinda grabbed her shoulders. "Are you _really_ sure? I mean, if anything goes wrong…"

"Linda, I _am_ sure." The courtesan said seriously. "Trust me."

The head maid of the Dantalion castle made a conflicted expression, she said nothing for long seconds, but at the end…

"Alright." She let out the word in a sigh. "Just… I'm here okay, for whatever you need."

Bella smiled warmly, "I know. Thank you."

With a deep breath the official courtesan of the Dantalion family sunk to her knees, placing her hands on the roof floor directly under her, right above her shadow.

She can't connect to all the shadows in the city like Ely would… not alone.

As she closed her eyes, she made her demonic energy spike in a particular pattern; a pattern that crashed against the seal on her back, the first wave made the large, intrinsically drawn, magical formula turn visible. The second wave made it move like the cogs of a lock turning. The third wave stirred what was locked inside.

It was impossible to explain what happened.

Shadows are a mere physical phenomenon caused by the lack of light; anyone would be able to reach that conclusion simply by observing reality. Sure, there is another phenomenon called magic that could use or manipulate 'shadows' in various ways, but those were mere representations, something that was made primarily by magic itself rather than anything concrete.

However, as any angel, fallen or any creature old enough to have experienced the world at the dawn of the First Age would know; reality is… grander than what it seems. Oh, it is a ruined, decaying caricature of what it once was, but it still retained _some_ of its grandeur. They manifested in the form of shattered pieces, or perhaps _layers_ would be a better term. Great fragments of its old glory that still hung to it like the brightness of a dead star. Normally, they are utterly inaccessible to the now incredibly lessened beings that persists on existing in the rotting corpse of the universe.

However, some beings could still 'connect' with these legacies of an age long gone, they could briefly access, and even bring forward the 'true' essence of things, and they did so without even knowing, without even realizing the weight of their actions.

Some of those beings called themselves Dantalions.

But the woman known as Araneya Dantalion was different; her reach didn't just manifest _any_ true shadow, she manifested a shadow unlike any other; a primal, ancient force born from unholy sacrifice.

And that force came forward with jubilant glee, 'filling' the entirety of Bella's shadows and digging its familiar presence over it with a rapture of alien and familiar feelings. Back at the normal layer of reality, the woman felt a sensation akin to millions of tiny tentacles slithering under her skin, and shivered in a not-fun way; she's still not used to this.

She transmitted her greeting in a deeper form of communication shared only by them and quickly explained the situation. Luckily, the shadow force wasn't in the mood to push for control over the body so it could play around in a different reality this time. She didn't know how Belinda would react to that.

And speaking of her maid, her worried voice cut in right in the middle of the explanation.

"Lady-Bella? Are you still there?" She felt the maid's brief touch on her shoulder, and her hand shot to grab the source.

 **"I'm… I'm fine…"** Bella decided to take a controlled risk and slightly opened her eyelids. When Belinda's vision didn't provoke an avalanche of uncontrolled emotions, she opened them some more. It was a good thing Ely wasn't there; she wouldn't be able to control herself if he was. **"How long was I out?"**

"Three minutes and forty-two seconds, everything ok with… her?"

 **"Of course, she's always a sweetheart."**

"… Still could flatten the city if she comes out."

Bella grimaced; thickly keeping a leash over her brief flash of irritation so it wouldn't escalate into an explosion of fury. As much as she wanted to preach about letting Abby go out more and have her experience new things, Belinda was right. Abby had never seen a city before, and the new scenery and variety of people would definitely make her… 'Overly excited', and only Ely can stop an overly excited Abby.

 **"Don't worry. I'm handling it."**

Belinda gave her a long look. "You really are, aren't you? Damn…"

 **"What?"** Bella head slowly turned to face the maid.

"Nothing, just… having some flashbacks." Belinda shook her head and smile. "You're pretty incredible, you know?"

 **"I…"** Bella blinked at her maid, watching as her blonde locks slowly move in the soft breeze and the light of the sun glittered over her rich features, accentuating the faint pink of her smiling lips.

Desir/Gratitu/ _Resentme/Admira/Lus/Ang/_ _ **Fur/Fea/Poss/Lov-**_

She _clamps_ down the tsunami of emotions before they start to affect her actions.

 **"I-I need to focus!"**

"Right, sorry."

Bella concentrated inwards once again; melting her intentions with the part of the Abyss that could pass as a mind. The Force danced in delight for the sheer euphoria of being needed- something that severely strained Bella's self-control- and promptly yielded itself to Bella's will.

With her directions and Abby's power backing her up, the process went on smoothly.

In a place between reality and beyond, pitch black vines of pure shadows spread. They connected with the lack of the light produced in the physical world, at the same time they did to real shadows related to it many layers above and beneath. One by one the Shadows of the city were coming together in a vast network of thorns and vines, and with them came the information of what they were connected to.

For a single moment the Abyss collected everything there was to know about everything around it, their senses, characteristics, history, actions, secrets and plots, traces of their magical and supernatural presence, everything; it had a level of control over the lesser shadows that nothing that existed outside its layer of reality could possibly reach.

Most of the information stopped existing as soon as it entered the Force's 'mind', the reason for that is that it had no reason, or interest to keep it; the Abyss has a single a mission, everything else was a distraction, so it easily threw away what it would have normally spent hours obsessing over.

This inadvertently saved the fragile mortal mind that was blending to it; otherwise, the overflow of information would have broken its sanity.

Within a moment that felt like an eternity, Bella gasped into awareness with the information she sought in the forefront of her mind.

"Come here you brat!"

"Nyahahaha!"

The first thing that grabbed her attention was a laughing Shirone jumping around the roof with an irate Cleria running after her. The tan-skinned woman now had a crudely drawn beard on the lower side of her helmet and a pair of cat ears on top.

"Hey." Belinda called; she turned to see the maid sitting beside her. She was relieved to see the black sclera on her lady's eyes fading "Thought we'd need to spend the night here."

 **"How long** \- **g** uh… How long this time?"

"Twenty minutes. Shirone already tried to leave four times. You got to thank Cleria for keeping her distracted."

"Twenty minutes?" Bella smiled brightly. "That's way better than last time!"

Considering that last time consisted in a very crazed and extremely naked Araneya making a ritual dance that she claimed to have learned from squirrels, so that Elias could apparently turn his wrath towards a dragon that had a bad case of indigestion while flying over the forest, Belinda begrudgingly admitted that it's better, though she still preferred the naked dancing Bella.

But still, it was an achievement.

"Congratulations." Belinda said warmly, but soon, her expression turned serious. They were dealing with child traffickers after all. "Do you have the kid's location?"

"No," Bella said as she rose to her feet, the statement made Belinda blink confusedly. "I have the location of every single criminal hideout that is keeping child prisoners."

"Oh," Belinda mumbled, slowly opening a feral smile. "Ooooh. That was very clever of you little cow, well done."

"Hehehe, praise me more mistress!" Bella cried cutely and waited for Belinda to realize that she had just used bedroom talk to speak with her 'noble lady'.

Her reaction didn't disappoint; it made Bella snigger, which only made it worse for the maid because of how pleasant the sound was.

" _Al_ right!" Belinda cleared her throat, trying desperately to contain her blush. "Let's talk business. How is your shadow?"

Bella smile became strained. "About as well as you expect." With the Abyss awake and aware, it's full 'volume' was now bloating and weighing her shadow, it was incredible how easy that restraint had become noticeable after she experienced life without having to fight to use her shadow. So her shadow techniques are out of commission until Ely could redraw the seal.

In truth, she could redraw it herself, but there is no way she is wasting the opportunity to have her son's touch all over her naked back; every opportunity of skinship must be thoroughly enjoyed! It was vital for their mother and son development.

"I suppose I can't convince you to sit this one out." The look the maid received was answer enough. "Just... let's try to keep you out of stressful situations, considering that the beast is loose and…" Seeing Bella's increasingly annoyed glare, she wisely chose to stop talking. "Righto... Hey, you two!" She called the bickering pair on the other side of the roof.

They stopped what appeared to be a tickle war, and looked back.

"We got some targets, time to hunt!"

-0-0-0-

The headstrong young man bowed deeply before the severe senior.

"Mister Dmitry, I humbly ask your permission to marry your daughter." He said, determinedly.

"Oh, Pedro…" The love of his life murmured beside him, her squeaky voice full of anxiety for what could happen.

The mighty old man glared at the young couple for a long moment before reaching his decision.

"Never!"

His response filled the room with loud gasps.

"But why!" The young man named Pedro argued while his love breaks down crying. "M-My love for Marisa is unquestionable! I'd do anything to-"

"You are not fit to join our family, boy!" The senior man's glare bored the weight of the word. "Especially with your dark past."

Pedro gasped, dread dripped down his spine. Could it be…

"Husband, please!" Said the kindhearted old woman who was consoling her daughter with her own slightly different squeaky voice. "Could you please reconsider? I can sense true love between them, love like I never felt before! They are meant to be together! It is their fate."

"There are things you don't understand woman, things that only I have knowledge off, and because of that Marisa and Pedro will never be together!"

"No!" Marisa declared, suddenly jumping to her feet "I _will_ marry Pedro, and there is nothing you can do to stop it! We will run away together."

The young woman's words provoked more gasps throughout the room

"Foolish Daughter! I have not raised you to be a rebel!"

"Father please-"

"Do not call me father boy!"

"It's decided! Pedro and I will run away immediately!"

"Not so fast!" A different squeaky voice declared.

The front door of the house exploded and a beautiful woman stepped in.

"Who are you!?" Marisa asked.

"Oh, you may not know me, but I know you. Isn't that right, _Mother!?"_

"What are you talking about! I don't have a daughter!"

"Oh no." The old woman wailed, bringing the attention of the room.

"Wait, are you saying…"

"That's right! I'm your evil twin sister, Elizabeth! And I've come to claim what is mine!" Elizabeth took out a piece of paper from her pocket. "This is a doctor paper saying that I'm pregnant. I'm pregnant with your child Pedro!"

The room gasped.

"Noooo! Pedro, how could you!?"

"W-What, but how could it be!?"

"Not so fast!" The father of the family stood, suddenly on the good guys side. "You are lying! And how do I know this?" He took up a piece of paper from his pocket, "Because I've dug up a piece of Pedro's dark past; He is actually a SHE! She transitioned to a guy years ago, meaning he wouldn't be able to conceive!"

"What!? NOOOO!" Said Elizabeth, shocked by the twist.

"Oh, Pedro. I knew it!" Said Marisa who suddenly became a lesbian. "Now we can be together forever!"

"Marisa… I-I'm sorry, but I can't! I have fallen in love with Elizabeth!" Pedro declared, making Marisa cry.

Then...

The frenetic knocks on the door became too bothersome for the god of this world to ignore, and he turned his attention alway from the engaging drama of his own making.

"Enter." His voice resonated throughout the large but stuffed office. In his mind he was mulling over the fate of the one behind the door; on one hand, he fulfilled his command of 'never enter before being called', on the other hand, he still interrupted his sacred free time.

"P-Pardon me, sir!" Said the suit-clad man as he entered, experience kept him from flinching from the creepy atmosphere caused by hundreds of tiny eyes slowly turning towards him. "But there was an emergency-"

"Silence. No loud words inside this room." The imposing shadowy figure facing a pink-colored dollhouse stood from his chair. His mountainous size rising until his bald head almost hit the ceiling; his sharp cut suit framed his massively muscular body in a way that made him look like a living block of black concrete. He turned his face the subordinate he had kindly decided to let live, the small black eyes on a stone expression almost made the smaller man soil himself.

"We are being invaded, and it's the same group that has been raiding hideouts and audition houses all over the afternoon." He intoned calmly.

"Ye-Yes sir!... How did you know sir?"

The giant man gently collected his beloved dolls and moved to place them in their protective cases around the room. Before each of them, he paused, making sure to admire their diverse beauty and basks in their childlike innocence. Yes, there is nothing purer in the world.

"Uh, Sir? W-."

"Do not speak."

His fingers gently placed the new addition to his collection on the glass box. Oh, what a perfect thing it was; completely handmade by someone who had an abundance of love but lacking in proper experience, it's body made from old straw under a rough, old cloth messily stitched together into a humanoid form, another ragged piece of fabric served as it's dress, and it had something that appeared to be a tiny pair of papier-mâché feline ears among the bundle of black strings that served as it's hair.

Magnificent, simply magnificent, he could practically smell the loving memories that it held, very few in his beloved collection could capture the feeling of childhood innocence so perfectly, what a glorious find!

He lovingly stroked the doll's hair, thinking about all the fun they are going to have together; truly he couldn't've asked for a better Marisa.

"Sir? Pardon me, but we really should-"

"Three times you interrupted, three times I tolerated… there won't be a fourth."

"HIIIH! Yes, mister Klaus!"

The man known as Nikolaus Klaus ignored the terrified whine of his subordinate and brushed past him on his way to the door.

It was easy to assert the situation from there; his office was positioned so that he could see the entire warehouse. There was chaos on the floor below, his men were moving in droves, trying to put up a fight against the vastly superior opponents, their sounds of struggle and shameful failures echoed loudly across the place.

The subordinate that he didn't learn the name appeared on his side, tightly gripping the handles of the suspended pass way.

"This is terrible sir! They're annihilating us!"

"Hm…" the giant rumbled, watching as the two women made short work of everyone they could get their hands on with casual ease. "There was supposed to be three…"

"The other went downstairs, probably to free the merchandise." The subordinate comment absentmindedly, his attention still focused on the terrible, terrible things these women were doing to his comrades. His legs crossed in a universal sign of male solidarity.

Ah yes, the 'merchandise'. Truth be told, thoughts about sentient traffic didn't brother Nikolaus all that much, but to have children involved always left a bitter taste in his mouth afterwards; they were the only living meat bags he could tolerate, mostly because they seem to be the only ones that truly appreciated the purest of passions. But alas, Nikolaus had a mission to do, and his mission was more important than small things like personal morals.

Right now, he'd have to be a good section captain for the Black Spider Syndicate.

"D-D-Do you think they are…" His subordinate gulped, his voice growing thin and weak. "t-the _Baba Yaga?"_

"…Unlikely. If they were, these men would be dead." He didn't bother learning about the rumors and wild storied about the famous local assassin, but he knew that reality was stranger than fiction; the Baba Yaga was a ten-year-old girl and previously worked for the Winter foxes gang; what the White Wolf Syndicate used to be called, before the Pillar family snatched her into their services. The entirety of the region's criminal underworld breathed a collective sigh of relief when that happened. "I have decided… You…"

The subordinate noticed the look.

"O-Oh? I-I'm Kevin sir."

"Go down there and join the fight."

"E-eh!? F-Forgive me sir, but I don't think I'll make much difference-"

"You heard me, Kevin, I command you to fight. But, if you wish, you may run away. The Syndicate will get in contact with you on a later date if you chose the latter option of course.

In that moment, the man named Kevin knew he was truly fucked. He knew what 'get in contact' means, everybody does. That is why the men of the Black Spiders Syndicate were famous for never running.

"Yes, sir!" Cried the man, with a voice of someone in the death row.

Nikolaus Klaus stood there as his subordinate left, watching as the men fell one by one, one might question his leadership for giving an order when the result was so obvious, one might say he is not leading his men properly, that he is just mindlessly throwing them on the grinder.

And they would be wrong of course, within seconds of processing the situation, he noticed that none of the downed men were dead and, more importantly, that they are lasting a satisfactory amount of time before they fell, keeping the enemies busy and giving him enough time to properly familiarize himself to how their bodies moved.

So the commander stood there, brushing his long, bushy white beard. And _**Watched.**_

-0-0-0-

"I have to say." Commented Cleria as she bashed the face of another man who got too close. "I thought this was going to be pretty fun, but now I'm rather disappointed."

"What were you expecting?" Belinda stepped to the side, letting the longsword pass, then she struck her palm on her opponent's chest, grabbed his tie and used it to throw his body at the next huddle. "These are low-class devils, low middle-class at best. The difference in our power is just too large." She would know; unlike Cleria, she started out at their level- well no, a bit higher- she had to crawl her way into the big leagues, so the difference is especially evident to her. But even then, she was still surprised by the ease of which they were falling. "Besides, they're good for nothing gopniks." She joked, her mind wandering to her teenage years, when she used to pick fights with actual gopniks.

"The fuck is a gopniks?" Cleria asked, pulling a Devil close and hitting him with a helmet-clad head-butt.

"Vagabonds, creeps, trash of society. They're only good for drinking vodka, squatting in weird places, and getting their asses kicked by Slavic women."

Another body was violently thrown against the surprisingly sturdy wall, "I'm not a Slavic woman though."

Belinda smiled, "If you're kicking gopniks' ass, you're a Slavic woman."

They moved in synchrony, each move swinging a screaming man, and made them crash in the middle.

"Now…" Cleria cracked her neck, looking around the room for a still standing opponent, finding exactly one. "Last one huh?" Her voice was nothing but clear malice.

"Fuckkkkkk!" Kevin whined. But to his credit, he didn't run.

"Oh, I'm going to take my time with you."

"Don't kill him; we don't want to repeat what happened on the first raid." Showing a room full of death bodies to a group of kidnapped children was _not_ a good idea; they had learned that the hard way.

"Yeah, yeah I know."

"W-W-Wait, please! C-c-can we talk about this!?"

"Pants dowwn~" She singsonged, kicking a spiky metal cub from the ground to her hand.

 _"Nooooo!"_

After a scene too graphic to describe, Belinda finally turned to the presence she was monitoring since the middle of the fight.

"So," She heard Cleria asks, the helmet-wearing woman appeared on the corner of her vision, cleaning her hands. "Should we go to him?"

"No need, he's coming down."

And down he came, his body landed on the floor with a loud crash, like a meteor falling from the sky and forming a crater from the impact. He rose to his feet among the bodies of his fallen men, completely unflappable by the scene.

"Greetings." The giant beard man bowed his head politely, "I am Nikolaus Klaus, captain of the Black Spider Syndicate, currently one of the men maintaining the black market for the region."

"Which makes you a slave-trader, among other things," Cleria commented.

Belinda narrowed her eyes. "Why tell us this?"

"You spent the whole afternoon disrupting Syndicate business, nothing that we wouldn't be able to recover from, quite easily in fact. However, I admire the speed and efficiency of your work, so know this, as a gesture of good faith; if you take me down, you would be inflicting a severe blow to the business, one that may take months to fully normalize."

"I don't know if he is provoking us or stroking his own ego." Mumbled Cleria from the side.

"He is definitely provoking, though it's the most soft-hearted provocation I ever heard," Belinda mumbled back, then raised her voice. "Let me guess, IF we manage to take you down right."

The man nodded. "Correct. As you stand now, you will never be able to take me down."

"Hohhh, big words for a big boy." Cleria tensed her muscles, preparing to pounce. "Are you saying that you are stronger than us?"

"No, after watching the display of your strength, I can safely say you are stronger than me. However…" A magically charged kick stopped right beside his face, causing a strong gust of wind to blow past, making his beard flap to the side like a banner. "Not every battle is decided by strength alone."

"What the!?" Cleria tried to pull her leg back, but her hips didn't move, nor did her shoulders, it was like all her muscles had frozen in place.

A thin line of Vacuum cut the air with a shrill sound, Belinda had let out the spell in the moment she realize Cleria's strike failed.

Only then, Cleria's body moved.

"AGRH!" She cried as the attack opened a deep gash on her left shoulder and almost severing her arm.

"You see?" The giant man commented as Belinda dropped a crushing kick on the area beside him, far away from where she was aiming. He took out a handkerchief and methodically cleaned the few drops of Cleria's blood that got on his face. "Quite wonderful creatures, devils, with a vast array of unique powers. Because of that, it's _extremely_ unwise to let an unknown Devil watch you fighting for so long; you might not know how his ability works."

"NOW THIS MOTHERFUCKER'S DEFINITELY PROVOKING US!" Cleria roared, the pain from the injury only feeding her anger. She kept her arm close to her torso and jump back to create distance.

Belinda attempted two more strikes. When neither of them hit the mark, she quickly changed strategies. Making to steps back she-

"GRRRH!" Her body shook violently as a lightning bolt hit her from behind.

The assault lasted for several seconds. When it was over, she wobbled in place, with smoke rising from her skin and limbs trembling in the aftermath of the intense electroshock.

She coughed a pained breath and angrily snapped her head back, catching the sight of a wide-eyed Cleria with her hand still raised. "What the hell!?" She shouted, then regained her sense and turned back toward the enemy.

"It's not my fault! My body is moving on its own!" She heard her companion shout.

 _'My body is moving on its own!'_ Belinda's eyes widened, _'fuck!'_

"Indeed." Nikolaus Klaus confirmed the blonde's fear. He raised his hand, clenched his fingers into a fist, and made a pulling motion, for a moment she could see the pulse of his demonic energy traveling through the strings that connected parts of her body to his finger, before she abruptly flew on his direction, putting her body in the way of a second lightning strike.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

Belinda couched again, resting on her hand and knees. She could hear the man speak "Hm… her anger is blinding her. Let us give her a cleaner hint."

The maid felt her body moving against her own will, rapidly going from a downed position to a kneeling one, pointing her finger to her fellow maid. Belinda noticed with horrifying surprise that her _demonic energy_ moved in very familiar ways, forming an offensive spell that sent a concentrated tornado of pressure towards her.

Cleria groaned as her battered body crashed against the opposite wall, making a deep dent on it. She left a trail of blood as she slid to the floor.

"Mother _fucker!"_ She spat, banging her helmet on the metal wall. "You controlling our bodies isn't it!?"

Not only their bodies, Belinda realized, it went deeper than that, he could manipulate their _internal energy_ somehow, that wasn't supposed to be possible.

"Now that we are all on the same page." Their enemy turned his fingers upwards, forcing both women to stand, despite their aching injuries. "Let's move on to more important matters, like my free time that you so rudely interrupted. I greatly treasure my free time, you understand? I build worlds in it!" For the first time since he appeared, the man's voice changed from the controlled tone to gleeful one. It only lasted a second, but his mouth curled in an almost imperceptive smile. "But today, I had to give up my wonderful narrative to deal with you. So, before I move to deal with your last companion, I decided to use this opportunity to capture some of the magic I was forced to leave behind." He cleared his throat. "So, where was I? Oh yes, Marisa and Elizabeth's climatic battle."

The two women quickly disappeared from their position, only to reappear in the middle of the room with their limbs locked in a contest of strength; their next series of movement initiated a brutal sequence of blows.

"Okay!" Cleria said quietly, pausing to receive a punch in the stomach. Her body blocked the next attack, so she continued. "I'm going to nullify his spell, get ready to jump on him."

Belinda's face was slung to the side by a punch; she came back with a question. "Can you still use your energy?"

"A little bit, but it's all I need-ARHH!" She screamed as Belinda was forced to jab her injured shoulder. "Just… need… a moment…"

Nikolaus Klaus felt wonder growing inside him as he forced the two fighters to engage in glorious battle, their movements were quickly becoming a blur to his eyes and he suspected they could go much further, his fingers were dancing more by instinct than conscious decision by now; it would certainly affect the performance, but there are some sacrifices that must be made when dealing with combatants on their level. They were magnificent in their roles… for filthy meat bags of course, not even close to the grandeur of his beloved dolls, but closer than any being of flesh had managed to get in a long time, with one sole exception.

Nikolaus' mind began to fantasize about the possibilities. How majestic they would become once he put them through the ritual? How much more beautiful their martial dance would be when he kindly released them from the prison of flesh? Oh, he could hardly wait!

A bead of sweat drip down to his eyes and brought his focus back to reality. He noticed then, how wet his once immaculate suit was, and how constrictive it felt against each of his breaths. Inside, on a deeper level, he was surprised to find how depleted his energy reservoirs had become.

He had expected a high cost of energy to keep them under his control of course, but he didn't expect it to be at this level; the only other time he experienced a cost that high was when he went against a member of the Pillars.

But it was still manageable, it just meant that the show must end sooner, unfortunately; looks like the winner of Pedro's heart remains undecided for now.

Then, out of nowhere, the distinctive sound of a door flying out of its hinges reach his ears, and one of his men came rolling to a stop close to him. This was soon followed by a childlike cheer of a crowd.

Nikolaus pushed his finger up, making the fighters stop.

Oh right, the last one.

He turned to face the doorway; making his two new acquisitions move to his side and prepare to battle.

"Belinda! Cle-I mean Maid C!" Cried a melodic voice over the enthusiastic talking. "I'm finished with my part, are you finished with yours?" Nikolaus had to blink, feeling a brief wave of confusion, for a moment the voice sounded exactly like the one he imagined his most treasured dolls would sound like. "We have to meet up with Shirone-chan to see if her little friend… is… There…"

The white-haired living doll…no, white-haired woman who came out, and took in the scene, her eyes quickly widened when she noticed him and the ways her companions stood on his side with aggressive stances toward her. The 'merchandise' around her hips had a similar reaction, they had crowded around her in an enthusiastically, giggly crowd, but now that they noticed the giant suit-clad man; they were clinging to her body, seeking protection behind her.

"Greetings, my name is Nikolaus Klaus-"

"Be careful Bella!" The blonde woman on his side screamed, he could hear the note of despair in her voice. "He can take control of your body-HUUMM!"

 _'Interrupted again, it's getting… irritating,'_ He thought as he forced the woman's mouth closed.

"Control the body?" The white-haired woman exclaimed, her eyes flashed with fear for a moment because it was replaced by something fiercer.

"I advise against that… miss Bella." Her eyes flashed in surprised when he used her name, "Can you afford to fight now, when you have so much to lose?"

She looked back at the frightened children for a moment; he could see her biting her lower lip in frustration.

"Yes, miss Bella, your situation is very dire indeed, you should be very aware of that before you take any action… However, I'm not a merciless man, and I'm in quite a great mood, so… A proposal is in order."

"Proposal?" She mumbled. A little girl couldn't handle the tension and threw herself on the woman's belly, crying profusely as she latched on her, that induced a wave of crying children seeking a comforting hug to take them away from the scary man.

Nikolaus almost smiled at the sight of her trying to comfort the children while keeping her eyes on him. Good, the stress building up will keep her out of balance.

"Indeed, here it is; you leave this place, and never come back, that's it."

"What!" She blinked. He could practically feel her mind frenetically analyze his words. "That's it!?"

Finally, she said. "And the children?"

He actually smiled this time, to throw her balance even more. "You may take them of course." He didn't particularly care about the profit they could potentially bring, and the practice never sat well with him anyway, so there was nothing to lose.

She bit back another exclamation, her mind working once again. Some of the children began to react to his words, begging her to take them away.

"W-Wait." She said to them. "It can't be just this, there must be something-"

So easy, now just a tiny more.

"You are free to decline of course, but if that's the case then we would have to fight." He sent out two one springs, connecting them in a boy and a girl; children are always so easy to control. "And if that were to happen, I will use every advantage in my disposal." The woman's eyes widened as the crying children picked a weapon from the floor and pointed to their own throat.

"WAIT, I accept! I accept your proposal! Leave them alone!" She shouted, her ashen face trembling.

"Very well, I expect you out of my property immediately, do not test my patience."

Her eyes flicked to the women on his side. He frowned at that, he'd expected her to be so shaken that she would forget about them, take the children and run, but it seems she wasn't quite over the edge yet.

"U-um sir-"

"They are not part of the deal, of course, they will be staying there."

"What."

He sighed… an unacceptable breach of conduct; the drain on his reserves must be finally getting to him, he had to secure the new members of the collection soon, or they would escape from him.

A direct response then, he decided.

"They will not be going with you, they belong to me now."

"Belong- Eh? – I don't understand what-" Her eyes grew larger and larger as the horrible realization settled in. "You… You are taking them… you are taking them from me…"

Red eyes rose, they were full of confusion, denial, and despair, there was also something… strange in it.

"Are you taking them from me?"

Nikolaus frowned as a cold shiver traversed through his large body. He is already suffering the effect of energy depletion? He needed to hurry.

But still, he was not foolish enough to turn his back to an enemy.

"Correct, now leave. Immediately."

The woman's head slowly lowered, "You are taking them from me..." she repeated mindlessly, her eyes lost somewhere else. The children detected the woman's state and began to shake her harder.

Had he been a lesser man, he would roll his eyes. Figured now she would decide to fall from the edge, what a troublesome woman.

But that presents a new option, he could simply kill her now and spare the-

…

Nikolaus Klaus blinked confusedly at his knee, why had it given up; his energy depletion shouldn't be that high-

Why was the floor pitch black?

 **"No."**

…The sound froze the entire world around him; there was something… monumental weighting his shoulders down, he could barely keep himself from falling with his shaking limbs. He couldn't even fathom the cause of that…

It wasn't until he managed to raise his head, and gazed at the dark pools of blood framed by endless abyss.

Then he realized it was Terror.

 _ **"Never again."**_

-0-0-0-

Belinda Abamelik was not a happy woman.

She failed, she failed _astronomically_ ; she underestimated the enemy, there was no way to sugar coat it, she utterly fucked up one of the core lessons she spent years learning and beating on Elias' head. She had felt that man's presence since he started watching the battle, she could have taken him out, or at least have an easier time against him then, but she chose to do so after she took care of the small flies. The whole afternoon of one-sided fights had made her cocky.

And not only that but she failed again by letting her lady's sanity be consumed by that Beast, something she promised herself she'd never let happen again.

After that she failed _yet again,_ to bring back her Lady's from the monster's depths, her efforts were absolutely useless on the actual problem, only serving to mitigate the damages caused by it. If her wonderful Lady hadn't managed to wrestle the control back by herself, the city would have lost much more than several blocks.

And as if the weight of her failures wasn't enough of a punishment, she had to put up with _this!_

"So? How are you feeling? Does it still hurt?"

"Honey, I'm feeling nothing but pure ecstasy right now." Cleria moaned. "Oh yeahh, ecstasy~."

Cleria was sitting on the floor of the roof they stopped by, with her top taken off, showing a golden-colored bra, rich tanned skin and, more importantly, a severe shoulder injury.

Lady Ara- No Bella, if Belinda though about her like that, she'd say her name out loud, and that would be troublesome. Anyway, she was… _leaning,_ over the injury, with her loose, utter inefficient tube top completely pulled up, pressing the shoulder between her huge breasts.

Belinda knew that the bigger the area of physical contact, the faster Cleria's self-healing would be enhanced, but still didn't change the fact that she was _burning_ with envy.

And rightfully so, it has been half an hour since the session started, hers barely lasted five minutes; this was just pure injustice, no matter the gravity of injuries!

"Sorry for not taking you two to the hospital," Bella apologized again for the fifth time. "It's just that with what just happened, admitting you to a hospital would raise unwanted attention, especially after we spent the whole afternoon sending people to them-"

"Woman, you worry too much, we already said it's fine." Cleria, commented casually, from the position of her helmet it was clear that her eyes were shamelessly leering at the beautiful globes sandwiching her shoulders. "Besides, this is much, _much_ better than a hospital. I mean, healing boobs!? Why hasn't anyone thought of that before!? That's genius!"

"Hehehe, Ely said the same thing!" Bella increased the pressure. Cleria let out an exaggerated moan, and Belinda felt an urge to crush that shoulder. "We are working on a spell to give healing properties to my breast milk, he said it would be very useful for the future, and very awesome in general!"

"Ohhh Yes~ that's an awesome idea… Wait, what was that about breast milk? Are you _lactating_ right now?"

"Hehehe! _Maybe!"_ Bella giggled mysteriously, pulling the breasts away, and fixing her top. "That's the best I can do, you still need time or proper treatment to fully heal. How is it?"

"Good?" Cleria raised her arm, opening and closing her finger with stiff movements. "Holy shit I can move it again- _I_ mean, sorry ma'am still can't move it very well, can I have some more breasts please?"

Bella giggled. "Maybe later. For now, we have to dress the wound." She picked up a long strip of bandages she had discretely taken from her shadow. "Turn back please."

"Ahhh, alright." Cleria sighed, turning to Belinda while Bella worked. "Hey, are you going to continue brooding or are you going to tell me what the hell happened? My memories became messy after the stand off."

Looks like that sight of Bella using shadows was enough to trigger Cleria's mental barriers, Belinda has expected that.

She huffed, crossing her arms tighter under her breast, not in the mood to respond.

"Ah, I see, it is one of these cases… Now I really wanna know what-"

"YOU MEAN YOU DON'T REMEMBER, NYAA!?" Shirone's sudden shout made Cleria flinch.

The girl has been eerily quiet until now, but it seems the lid finally exploded.

"Big-Titted Onyee-chan nyactivated her rage mode! Then she wrecked everybody! She was like; penyew, panayw, SchaBOW! IT WAS NYAWESOME!"

"I…I see…" Cleria was utterly lost at the catgirl's enthusiasm. She turned to the kind lady that gave her a breast rub, "You have a rage mode?"

"I suppose I do… it's complicated." Bella said, finishing the wrapping.

Cleria instantly dropped the subject, Bella clearly didn't want to talk about that, and this is coming from a woman who could talk about her weird sexual preferences in public. So she respected her wishes.

"Ne Ne Big-Titted-Onye-chan!" Shirone practically jumped on Bella's lap when her hands were free. "How did you get your rage mode!? Shirone got her from her Onyee-chan! And Onyee-chan got hers by kicking butts. And why are yours so different from ours!? It was soooo cool! How does Shirone get one like yours, nya!?"

"W-Well Shirone-chan, these are really hard questions…" Bella gently patted the catgirl on the head, making her mewl cutely. "What about Kuro-chan? Have you managed to find your friend?"

"Yup!" The catgirl bounced to her feet, reaching for her pocket. "Here! Guys this is Kuro-chan! My Onyee-chan made her for me forever ago!"

… A moment of shocked silence followed as the women looked at the old homemade doll with papier-mache cat-ears.

Cleria looked at it, looked at it again, then slowly placed her hand on her face.

"A Doll… Are you telling me, that all this time, 'Kuro-chan' was a doll!?" She shouted, expressing what the others were thinking.

"Yup!" Shirone chirped, completely missing the shock. "That big bad guy stole Kuro-chan from her! But Shirone got her back by herself!" She placed her hands on her hips and puffed her tiny chest with a smugness that could only be described as 'absolutely cat-like' "She sneyaked into his office when no one was looking and stole her back! It was right before Big-titted-Onyee-chan exploded and kicked his butt, nya!"

The two long groans of frustration from the two maids were easily annihilated by the courtesan's musical laughter; the sound was extraordinarily enchanting and did wonders to lighten the mood.

"W-Hehehe!-Well, It's fine right?" Said Bella letting out the last of the laughter. "We did save a lot of children today." She smiled radiantly at the thought.

Cleared sighed through her helmet. "Alright, I suppose that makes it up for spending the afternoon fighting crime for an inanimate object."

"Fighting crime?" Shirone blinked, then her eyes turned big and shining. "We were fighting crime! WE'RE SUPERHEROES!" The little catgirl shouted on top of her lungs.

Another round of laughter followed the girl's words. Belinda watched them from a small distance, her lips curling into a small smile. Despite the weight of her failures, she couldn't help but feel a bubbling, nice feeling growing in her chest. When was the last time she'd done a good deed for purely altruistic reasons? Used her power to champion something that would not benefit herself or the ones close to her, but instead complete strangers that she didn't know and probably would never know? It's easy to lose track of things like that being what she is, and considering the society she lives in. Sometimes it's nice to indulge in more… human actions.

On that exact moment, she felt it; eyes, no, not eyes, 'attention' turned to their general direction and quickly focusing on them. It was different than an enemy presence, a killing intent, or even a magical sight. She'd never felt something like it.

She pushed her frantic feelings inside, bringing forward controlled discipline. Trying to not give any indication that she has noticed anything, she began dashing her eyes across the rooftops around her, trying to see anyone that might-

 _Movement_ toward them, she figured the direction- fast, _too fast._

"Watch out!" She roared placing herself between the incoming-

She only felt the wind blast as it passed beside her before her eyes could follow, shooting towards the ones behind her. She twisted her spine, swinging her arm in a desperate attempt to-

"SHIRONNNNE!" A new crying voice could be heard across the rooftop. "THERE YOU ARE! ONEE-CHAN WAS SO WORRIED!"

"Nya! Onyee-chan!? You're here!" The younger catgirl made to return the hug, but she stopped herself and started to push the hugger away. "I mean- _Nyu!_ What wrong!? I thought your stupid meetings were more important than Shirone!" The girl huffed, turning her cheek, and that cheek soon was being rubbed by another.

"Nyyya! Don't say things like that Shironeee," The older girl was openly crying while she tearfully nuzzled the younger one. "Onee-chaan spent the whole afternoon searching for you, you know! Onee-chan learned her lesson, no more boring meeting! From now on its only sisterly time!"

"Nya! Really!? You promised!?"

"HUmhu Humhu! Onee-chan will dedicate all her time for you now! We will ride bikes. Eat ice-creams, buy new dresses only the two of us- NYAAAAA! ONEE-CHAN WAS SO SCARED WHEN SHE DIDN'T FIND YOU. I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE OKAY!"

"Onyee-chan you're nyushing poor Shirone to death. Stop!"

Bella watched the scene with a surprised hand over her mouth. "Are they… sisters?"

"Apparently so." Said Cleria sitting back down from where she stood. "Bitch almost gave me a heart attack."

Belinda still stood with her guard up, watching the newcomer. She was just plain _weird_ to her senses; magic wise she was average, even if her reservoirs were huge but that could be easily written of as the work of a Bishop piece, there was nothing special about the movement of her body, but the air she gave… made Belinda on edge. Plus, she struggled to see her when she was moving, so Belinda reluctantly put her on the increasingly smaller list of 'people who might be faster than me.

All in all, her sudden appearance made her feel even guiltier; if she were an enemy rather than Shirone's sister…

It took full fifteen minutes before the bigger catgirl released the smaller one.

"Guys!" Cried the ever-enthusiastic Shirone. "This is Kuroka! Shirone's Onyee-chan."

"Hi guys~!" Kuroka chirped, making double peace signs with each hand. "I'm Kuroka! You may call me Kuro-chan if you like, nya!"

The immediate thing that became apparent about the teenager catgirl was that she was a full blown devil, rather than a nekomata like her sister. She was dressed in a red and gold Japanese kimono that seemed to be specifically cut to show up her still growing, but already impressive, curves. An experienced fighter would see that the outfit allowed for the full range of motion on her limbs, and the discrete layers of plates and mail knitted between the fabrics. Her golden eyes trailed over their forms with cheerful energy, judging their stance while lingering longer in more eye-catching distractions, like the gold trimming on Cleria's helmet.

"And these are my nyew friends!" Shirome turned to her sister and waved behind her. "This is Big-titted-Onyee-chan,"

"Woah, they're are pretty big!"

"Err, It's Bella actually, nice to meet you." She said, putting her arms over her breast with an awkward smile, the black-haired catgirl's lingering look resembled that of Elias' when she put on her one of her special lingerie.

"This is nyeirdo. She is pretty easy to tease."

"Hoh~Interesting nya~."

"What- Hold on, who are you calling- and what are you implying-" Cleria protests were utterly ignored so she just angrily puffed her still topless chest and huffed.

"And the one in the back is…" Shirone paused for a few seconds, her smile staying plastered on her face. "I don't know, nya!"

"It's Belinda!" She shouted, "Are you telling me that this entire time you didn't even know our name!?"

"Nyaa! It's not Shirone's fault! You're the one who didn't introduce yourself." The catgirl protested, comically waving her arms around. "How could Shirone have known!?"

"Well-Uh, you have a point!"

"Shut up nya! Shirone has all the points!"

"Nyahahaha! You guys are an interesting bunch. I'm glad Shirone had a fun afternoon!" Kuroka cut in, bowing slightly. "Thank you so much for taking care of my little sister, I know she can be a handful."

"You got that right," Cleria buffed, "Really, chasing after her kidnappers right after she escaped from them just because of a Doll." Kuroka blinked confusedly, behind her, Shirone was frantically gesturing Cleria to shut up, "If she is this bad now I can't even imagine how she's going to be in the future."

"Eh? Kidnappers? _What was that about kidnappers!?"_

Before this particular powder keg could explode, a meaty sound of a body crashing, and a painful wail attracted the groups' attention. On the rooftop next to where they were, a figure was standing up.

"O-Oiiii! Huff, huff, Kuroka-chan!... I, huff, Finally… made it!" The shaking words came from an exhausted looking man, trying to catch his breaths. "Why did you take off like that?"

"Nya? Darling!? Y-You chased after me, NYAAAA! That's so romantic~!" The older catgirl gushed dreamily, bringing her hands to her cheek to keep her smile from splitting her face. Her hips waved from side to side while her tail shooting straight in a clear indicator of maximum feline happiness, and revealed the black colored lace panties to the world.

She was not the only catgirl who perked up by the new arrival.

"Nya! Mach-oji-san! OIIIII!" Shirone shouted on the top of her lungs, waving her arms widely.

"Oh! Shirone-chan is here too?! That's great! Alright, hold on!"

"Nya? Are you gonna jump? Go darling! I believe in you!"

"Yeah oji-san, you can do it!"

The three women watching the scene in the back had varied reactions to it, but one thing soon became clear.

"Hey," Cleria began, her eyes twitching under her helmet. "We've been forgotten, aren't we?"

"Look likes so." Giggled Bella, watching the girl's loving reactions with warm eyes.

"Where the heck did that guy came from anyway?" Belinda asked, genuinely shocked. Her sharp senses didn't even register him until he made enough of a fuss.

The man took a couple of preparatory breaths and threw his legs a few times to relax his muscles. And started sprinting across the rooftop, ready to leap to the one they were in, all the while being cheered on by an enthusiastic pair of catgirls.

... He hit his face on the side of the building but managed to latch his fingers on the edge before he could fall.

Silence spread.

"The hell? It wasn't even that far." Cleria commented.

"G-Guys some help please! My fingers are very sweaty and-OH SATANS!"

"Oh dear, Darling!"

"Nya! H-Hold on Mach-oji-chan!"

They were quickly able to pull him up, and after a few moments of catching his breath, the new arrival was introducing himself.

"H-Hello." He said with a rather charming blush, his eyes dashing away from Cleria and Bella, one who was still topless and another who was wearing very provocative clothes. "I'm Macharate Gedōin, Kuroka-chan's king and their guardians… in a way. You can call me Mach, hum, thank very much for taking care of Shirone-chan."

Average; that is the perfect word to describe him; his only notable attribute is the fact he looked younger than he was, but that is a trait shared by many other devils. He stood in average height, an average face with average black hair and average black eyes. His body was also average, not fat, not thin, not strong but not weak. He doesn't exactly blend in with the background because that level of non-decriptibility was attention-grabbing all by itself. The clothes he was wearing were very odd for this region, though somehow it fit his image perfectly.

"Oh, it was no problem at all!" Bella giggled at the way he fought to not let his gaze wander down. "She is very… spontaneous."

"Oh yeah, that's a good way to describe her."

Cleria had yet to take her eyes away from him. She pondered on what she was seeing and couldn't keep the question in anymore.

"Hey, you. Why are you wearing a Japanese high school uniform?"

"Hum?-Oh this," He pulled the fabric of the said uniform. "It's was a gift from Kuroka-chan. She said it was perfect for me."

"And it is!" Exclaimed the catgirl, pulling his arm into the cleavage of her kimono, making him go stiff. "He just looks sooo handsome in it, like every schoolgirl dreams!" The man let out a girly yelp as the girl's hand began to wander

"HiH! N-Not now Kuroka-chan, w-we're in public."

"That makes it more exciting nya~."

"What? It is a game. Shirone wants to play too!"

At the reminder of the presence of a small child among then, the couple quickly jumped away from each other.

The scene made Bella giggle.

"Gedōin? Like the city?" Asked Belinda putting herself between the man and his increasingly daring glances, and Bella and her flimsy getup.

He blinked, surprise for her knowledge. "Yes, as a matter of fact, though to call it a city is stretching a bit, my family owns the land and are put in charge of governing the place. I'm surprised that you know about it."

"Lived there for a few years, decades ago, when I was still getting used to devilhood." She explained casually and caught the way he relaxed. "That's in the Naberius' region right? Quite a long way for a vacation with your girlfriend." Kuroka let a squeal of happiness and hug him tighter for the assumption, Macharate just blushed brighter.

"W-Well, it's not really a vacation," He briefly sent an apologetic look at a pouting Kuroka. "I'm actually there for work. I'm a scientist you see. I'd like to get some of the Dantalion's famous gemstone to see how their magical properties would react to my research."

Bella perked up at the mention of the Dantalion's gemstones. "Really? How so?"

The man smiled widely, clearly sliding comfortable with the subject. "Well, I'm researching the devil's bodies true potential you see, and I think I could use the gems to-"

"NYA!" Little Shirone jumped in between them. "You're starting to go boring again Mach-ojii-chan! Shirone and Onyee-chan will leave, you know!?"

"Shirone! Don't talk to darling like that!"

"No! No more boring talks! You promise Onyee-chan! Shirone wants to do something fun!"

"N-Nya, b-but, darling…"

"Maa…" Mach stepped in and kneeled to the little catgirl's eye level. "Look like I've kept Kuroka-chan away from you for too long. I'm sorry Shirone-chan, I should have been more considerate toward your feelings." He gently patted her in the head. "Tell you what, why don't we go get ice cream right now? It'd be good to actually enjoy the city for once." His eyes flicked to the side, attracted by the squad of flying devils going to the smoking area in the distance. "… The other part of the city at least!"

"Really! You mean it!? You really really mean it, nya!?" Shirone's eyes were shining, "Nyatta! Ice cream!"

"Oh darling! You're so good with children!" Kuroka gushed, her hips swaying, with the growing fantasies.

The man chuckled at the catgirls' celebration, then turned toward the other women, putting a kind smile that could somehow woo the heart of any woman. "You guys are also invited if you want. It's the least I can do after you've done so much."

"Ummm, some other time, maybe."

"Thanks but no thanks I'm beat. At this point, I just want to go home and pass out on the bed."

"I'll politely decline the invitation."

"O-Oh." He blinked at the women's response, clearly not used to be rejected on situations like this, but he quickly recovered. "Well, if we ever meet again, it's my treat! Also, feel free to contact my family if you ever visit Gedōinville, I'll make sure you have a nice place to-"

"Come on Darling! Shirone-chan is about to explode; you know how she is." Kuroka approached with her bouncing, laughing sister under her arm, the girl gave the same feeling as a nuclear grenade without the pin. She passed her other arm around the man's waist, easily pulling him into a similar position. "Thank you again nya! I hope we see each other again!" She said to the group and began to walk to the edge of the roof.

"W-W-Wait Kuroka-chan! I'm still not keen on taking the roofs again after what just happened. I don't think my stomach can hold it!"

"Nonsense, Darling you said you wanted to grow past your limits yourself, every opportunity must be taken!"

"I-I didn't mean it that way, Kuroka-chan, Kuroka-chaaaan!"

"Bye Onyee-chans! Shirone shouted back as her sister leaped. "It was funnnn!" Her voice became smaller and smaller as they gained distance.

Bella stood there waving her arms in warm goodbye. She kept it for a few seconds after they disappeared completely, and then, she slowly lowered her arm, her expression growing serious.

"Belinda, Cleria… That man…"

"Humph, I'm surprised you even know about it." Cleria said, finally putting her shirt back on. "But then again, maybe it's not so surprising."

Bella was a courtesan after all, and for Cleria, who grew up with the context of devil high society; being a courtesan means a highly trained special agent that specializes in coating sex on everything they did. The profession wasn't exactly popular with the upper echelons of the devil nobility due to their ties to an ancient and shady guild who was no doubt thirsty for influence, but she can't deny their competence.

"Macharate Gedōin, recently crowned head of the Gedōin family, a rising star within the Underworld scientist community who's work managed to catch the eye of Beelzebub himself… And prized member of the Old Satans Faction." Belinda relayed the information so there could be no doubt about it.

Bella kept her eyes directed toward the place the three had disappeared. The increasingly colder breeze would make anyone dressed like her tremble. But she held on.

"… What is he doing here?" She asked more to herself.

"I dunno." Cleare answered, doing her best to stretch her back while minding her injury. "But I intend to find out." She declared, stepping forward.

Bella cast a concerned look at her friend. "Must you? Your shoulder is not properly healed yet; you should take a moment to-"

"Ara, ara, worries are fine princess, but you should be more genuine about it. You want to know what a creepy guy like that is doing with a sweet girl like Shirone, and you want to know fast. Guess what? So am I. There is no need to be coy about it, just let me do my mission."

Bella chewed her lower lips, the words striking a cord. "Just… Be careful."

"Hai Hai." As she said that her clothes began to change.

Straps of a dark fabric appeared from beneath the woman's helmet, crawling over her entire form, and melting with the clothes already on the body. Soon a fabric of different color joined the phenomenon, bringing together dulled, but artistically forged silvery plates.

By the end of the transformation sequence, Cleria was wearing a highly modified Maid dress. The only thing that really indicated that it was actually a maid's dress was the black and white color scheme and the short skirt around her hips. The rest of her body was covered with black stripes of tough fabric tightly warped together, with silver plates and soundless mail forming a light armor over it. The end result looked like an unholy blend of an assassin and a medieval knight; she looked right out of a Japanese RPG design book.

'The combat uniform' project was something that Elias worked throughout the entire last year. He personally crafted, with some help from specialists, a set of twelve enchanted armors, and gave it to each of his battle maids, ensuring their undying loyalty... and worrying obsession, in the process. Each one of the armor was tailored to match the maids' abilities and roles in the fighting unit, providing a series of special effects and advantages when worn.

The pouty, jealous face that the lady of the house makes whenever one of them wears it close to her has become legend among the castle's gossip network.

"Cleria," Belinda called, as the woman was about to leap. "Shirone's sister, that Kuroka girl. Be careful with her."

"So you felt it too… Got it; don't trip on the black cat!"

With that, she finally leaped, her body flying through the air in a graceful arc, until it fell and passed under one of the long shadows cast by the late afternoon sun; then she stopped existing, but a few moments later she moved back to existence until she got to the next shadow, in which her existence was erased again.

Pretty soon, it was impossible to tell where she was.

The two women stood together on the rooftop for a long moment of silence, just taking in everything that happened within these last hours.

"Alright!" Bella exclaimed, slapping herself on the cheek as motivation. "No use dwelling on things before we get an answer; we have to keep the spirits up!" She twirled on her feet, turning to her favorite maid. "Sooo, it's just the two of us now," She smiled suggestively. "Care for a date?"

Belinda heart skipped a beat like it always does when Bella looked at her like that. "Of cour-" The response smile died on her lips as the weight of her failures came crashing back down. "I mean…" She turned her face away in shame.

Not a second later her lady reentered her vision once again.

"You have been quiet since the end of the fight." Bella's smile was softer now but was still there. "What's wrong?"

"I…" Belinda tried to turn her face again, but the ruby eyes were drawing her in. "I have failed you, my Lady."

"No, you didn't silly." She practically whispered this; their proximity carried the words easily.

"I did! I let you be taken over by that monster."

"She isn't a monster, Belinda." Bella stepped back and sighed, "We talked about this."

Yes, they did, many times before, each time she tried to 'train with it' in fact. She will admit that these occasions are usually more silly than dangerous, however, there has been times that she truly lost control. And it's difficult to buy the image of the child-like, energetic creature her lady claims it is when she'd seen the terrifying nightmare of shadows and darkness wearing the body of the woman she loved, especially after she felt it's black thorns piercing her flesh… they still ached on from time to time.

"It doesn't matter. I still let you be pushed to your limits!"

"It wasn't you-"

"I let him!" She shouted, her voice wavering. "If I wasn't so damn cocky! If I took him seriously from the start! If I was able to keep myself from getting fucking captured!" Her nails pierced the palms of her hands by how tightly she was gripping. Her shoulders trembled in frustration. "I could have prevented you from going through this…"

"… I see."

Warm hands cupped her cheeks and directed her face toward the beautiful pool of red, hardened with uncharacteristic seriousness.

"Yes, Belinda… you have failed me."

The words didn't hit her like a train or took her breath away. Instead it was a gradual process; first, a moment of silence as they hang in the air and she could process them, then the slow path toward understanding and realization of what has been said, and _who_ has said it, a simple image that would haunt Belinda for years to come. Lastly, there was the _drop;_ Belinda felt everything she was dropping in a pool of dark emotion she could even begin to describe.

When she came to herself she was on her knee, only the delicate touch on her lady's hand on her cheek kept her upper body straight, directing her to look to those blood red eyes, and they were still judging.

"That is unforgivable."

Belinda couldn't move, she couldn't breathe or even talk; all her attempts only came out as unintelligent sounds. Could it be considerate suicide, if her heart stops now by the pure shame?

"You…!" There was something different this time, a disparity in her lady's tone, almost like a… a choke, a tearful choke at that. Her lady choked as she tried to continue. "You almost got taken away from me!"

The red pools of blood-red quickly became moistened, her impeccable features made of tiny perfection curled into an expression that was just as beautiful as it was heartbreaking, a picture taken in that exact moment would revolutionize the world of art.

"Well, what do you say for yourself! What would've happened if you were taken by that man! Have you thought of that!? He could have killed you!"

Her lady was crying, she felt the tears hitting her face. She made her lady cry, and… and Her lady was crying _for_ her. Belinda felt like the most desirable woman in the world and utter trash at the same time.

 _"I…"_ Is this her voice? This bent, weak, broken thing? She was crying too, Belinda only now realized. She hasn't genuinely cried in years, yet now she couldn't stop. "I'm so, so sorry…"

 _"Sorry isn't enough!"_ Her lady's voice became distorted, high-pitched, and echoey for a second, before she dropped down her knee right before Belinda. Her fingers were gripping hers more strongly know. "N-Ne Belinda, you are mine, you know? Just like I'm Elly's. We're supposed to be together forever your understand? _Forever!"_

The way her eyes shone, her tone of voice, the small twitches on her body… She'd seen this before, just once, many years ago…. right after the first time she witnesses her lady being possessed for the first time. She watched while hanging on to her consciousness in a bloody corner of a destroyed room, as lady Araneya acted exactly like that toward Elias.

"But there will be others that will come to separate us. They will come, they always, _always_ do! They will come with threats, violence, _letters-_ They will come, Belinda and when they do, we'd have to _kill_ them, you understand, or we will be separated and terrible, _terrible_ things will happen!"

Blood dripped from her cheek. She realized that she had to pull herself together because her lady is slipping.

"That's why things like that man can't be allowed to live, h-he tried to take you away- _take you away,_ Belinda! You _can't_ let yourself be put in this situation or the consequences- _Doyouunderstandme!?"_ Her scream spread across the rooftop.

"Yes!" She shouted back, in truth she had no idea what to say, but she'd feel that if she stayed silent things would escalate, and something told Belinda that her lady wouldn't be able to wrestle back control as easily as before, so she just spoke, letting all her feelings out. "Yes, I do. I do understand. I promise to never put you in a situation like that! I will do everything in my power so that it don't happen, and I swear that no one will ever take me away from you! I'll be with you for as long as you'd have me because I-" She felt the words coming and trying to stop it, but there was no turning back. "I love you!"

The shout left her breathless, but it seems that her rant had managed to stop whatever was happening with her lady, slowly her last words stop ringing in her ears, and she actually processed what she had said.

A mighty blush took over her entire face and down her neck, and the temperature around her body seems to rise exponentially, even though there was no one maintaining 'Summer' anymore because of the sudden destruction of several city blocks that required an additional workforce to deal with.

"Err, I…" Her words were stolen by a pair of soft lips over her own, making her fall to her back and felt the wonderfully soft, curvaceous form lying over her body.

She had shared kisses with her lady before. They were lovers after all, even if the revelation of Bella's true identity was still somewhat fresh in her mind. But of all the kisses they shared, none were as deep and passionate as this one. Belinda felt her mind melting as their tongues and limbs explored one another.

They separated for air an eternity later, though 'separated' was an overstatement; their faces were mere millimeters from the other.

"I love you too silly." Belinda heard the words of her dreams being whispered to her. "Wasn't it obvious? _._ "

On that moment, Belinda realized something...

Months, no years of unrelated pieces of the puzzle that was Araneya Dantalion began to fit together in her mind as her lady dove in for another kiss.

Small things about her, tiny reaction, small looks, the way she carried herself, all started to fit together into a whole, hell, even some of her more striking characteristics began to melt together into a coherent picture.

Most of her conscious thoughts were pushed to the side in favor of the warm, wet feeling and the magical taste that accompanied it, but Belinda couldn't shake the way she had looked at her when her lady said the words she always wanted to hear.

It was love, pure and simple, it was the unmistakable look of someone who is in love, it was the look of a young teenager who couldn't keep his eyes away from the new girl in class, the look of newlyweds as they dragged each other to the bed of their exotic honeymoon's hotel, it was the look of an old woman, watching her ninety-year-old husband present her flowers for their anniversary.

It was the same look she had always directed toward her.

Belinda couldn't even remember when that happened; when she started serving as her and Elias' personal maid maybe? But yes, her lady had looked at her like that for many, many years...

And lately she starting to look at Cleria in the same way.

At that moment, Belinda understood the distorted mind of Araneya Dantalion a little better. For her lady it was all or nothing; she either dislikes or doesn't hold any particular feeling toward someone, or she _falls in love_ them with every fiber of her being, a love so deep and honest that she would not hesitate to give herself up completely for it.

But even then, even with her look full of such immense and powerful love, it still _pales_ in comparison to the looks she gives Elias.

For the first time since she discovered it, Belinda thought back to the relationship between Lady Araneya and her son, and felt profound sense of hopelessness.

 _"MnHMMM!"_

These thoughts immediately melted away as her lady slid her fingers under the hem of her jeans, approaching her increasingly molten core.

"Hehehe, 'Linda can make such cute sounds!"

"Why you…" Whatever she was going to say got stuck in her throat when their meet eyes. Satans, how did she never notice that before?

"Ara, you've shaved recently. Were you expecting anything today, you naughty, naughty maid?"

Belinda's mess of feeling twisted, and finally took a proper shape. Then, her hands dashed under the useless tube top like it wasn't there.

"Look at who's talking _cow_ , spending most of the day wearing something like this. It's like you _want_ to be molested by perverts!" She twisted the hardening nipple in the right amount of roughness and nibbled the shivering woman's earlobe. "I'm the one in front of the line of course."

"Oh yes! Hehehe!"

Frankly, who gives a fuck? Her lady loves her, genuinely loves her, that's more than she could possibly have asked. She had no illusions of her place within her lady's heart, but by that point, it doesn't matter. They are right there. Together. Loving each other like never before.

Yes, Belinda could be satisfied with that.

-0-0-0-

Somewhere else, inside a room covered by darkness, there was a doll.

It lay in the center of the completely empty, square-shaped room. It was an ugly thing; made from a poorly put together blend of plastic, straw, and metal nails, that someone attempted to stitch in a vaguely humanoid shape; it was a doll that no child would ever want to have.

It stayed there as it always did, within the dark room, with a layer of dust over it, utterly still on the floor.

Until something changed, a small thing, almost imperceptible, if anyone were in the room right now they'd have a hard time to put the change into words. It was more like a general feeling on the place, a shift in the air.

Then, on the ceiling, near the center of the room, a dull red light shone, it would be impossible to notice the shine anywhere else, but inside the dark room, it was like the sun.

The red light trailed through the ceiling until it formed a circle, then it spread outward, dancing across the ceiling and down the wall in increasingly complicated pattern.

Someone with a keen eye would notice the lines drawn with a dark ink over the surface of the entire room by now, time and natural degradation has erased most of them, but with the dark red light slowing traveling over it, like blood filling a network of carving, they're becoming whole again.

The light twisted and turned in the curves and crossways, filling more and more of them with its red hue. As it spread, the darkness began to retreat, giving the dusty air inside the room an intense red tinge.

In what seemed like an eternity, the red light finally reaches the doll at the center and cast its shine over it. All the brightness started to converge to that point, letting the room be conquered by the darkness once again, with only the small object in the middle shining.

The shine lasted for a few more seconds before fading away.

For a single solitary moment, the room went back to what it was before, like none of that ever happened.

Then, the doll twitched.

There was a particular sound that stuck in the mind coming from the shaking doll. A cracking, wheezing, grotesque thing that was delivered by inorganic material twisting and turning in place while it becomes organic.

Straw lines changed position and transformed in veins, nerves, and arteries. Hard plastic molded and shifted as they transformed into skin and flesh, metal broke apart and mashed together violently, as they became bones.

The doll has bloated into a half-formed mass of organic flesh, with more of its still inorganic material contributing to the whole. Somewhere along the way, the boated mass started to take a humanoid shape, while the exposed organs sprung to life.

A gash opened in the still-forming head, but it wasn't until the throat and lungs formed that the _agonizing scream,_ could be heard.

The grotesque process took a long time to finish, during which the increasingly humanoid shape didn't stop screaming, it was able to move at some points, and it left a trail of blood and pieces of flesh across the entire room as it banged madly against the walls in an attempt to stop the pain.

Minutes passed, hours passed, days passed, weeks… at an indeterminate point of time later, the huge tumbling form of Nikolaus Klaus curled in the bloody floor, his eyes fixated in an unseen distance on the wall, while his mouth spilled an endless babble about darkness and thorns.

A lesser man would stay like that for the rest of his life, reliving the eternity he spent in the bottomless ocean of shadows, feeling his flesh being pierced and torn apart by the spikes of pure agony that invaded every pore of his being, with his bleeding eyes locked in the terrors that dwell within the endless black briar, as it looked back at him.

Nikolaus Klaus spent fifteen hours like that, then he pushed his new terrors to the back of his steel-clad mind, fighting against the deep-seated tendrils the shadows left behind on their wake.

After he took back control over his body, and his mind reached a meditative state; he laughed.

And laughed, laughed, and laughed some more, a deep belly laughed that boomed across the small dark room.

'Oh, what a development!' his thoughts bellowed, thinking back at the events past, while carefully tip toeing around the trauma, 'who would have thought something like that was possible. Really, who would?!'

He had failed his mission; the Black Spider Syndicate most likely knows about his 'death' by now, if he presents himself to them again, questions would arise, questions he couldn't afford to answer. Pity he was about to make a breakthrough that could've possibly lead to an opening on the White Wolf Syndicate, it would give him some insight on the mysterious rising power of the criminal underworld.

He'd lost his north side collection; that's the thing that hurt the most, two decades of beauties he had accumulated over his stay in the Dantalion's region, gone in an instant. The realization made his eyes tear up. Not all were gone, of course, but they must be left alone for now, going back to the region before the dust had properly settled wasn't a good idea.

He also lost the opportunity to get his hand in two wonderful new pieces for his collection. But that's okay, he had a feeling that this will not be the only opportunity he'd have.

A twenty years long mission ruined just like that, twenty years of infiltration done by rising within the ranks of an organization he cared nothing about, making allies and enemies, spreading his influence and making his name known, all ruined in a single afternoon.

But it was worth it; by Satans, it was worth it! To think that he'd stumble into something like that by pure accident.

He gave a long grunt and started to force himself to his feet. His large body flaring with the phantom pain of thousands of piercing wounds, something he would carry for a very long time.

He smiled as he remembered the woman; she wore nothing to hide her face and yet he still didn't recognize her until the shadows began to move, he looked directly at one of the most recognizable faces within the region, a face he made sure to memorize before he started his job, and noticed nothing until glaring evidence had been slammed on his face. What a splendid glamour; it was undoubtedly Elven, no, Fae grade in terms of power and sophistication.

Yes, the information was certainly worth it all.

With a last grunt, he raised to his full, imposing height. The broad, feral smile retreating back into professional expression as he tried to regain composure; his mind now focusing on his new duty.

Araneya Dantalion has bared her fangs.

His king must be informed of this immediately.

* * *

A/Notes: So you'll probably notice that Belinda knows Bella's identity in the chapter but I didn't show her figuring out in the story. I have to apologize for that, I tried to fit in but to do that I would have to write a entirely new chapter before this one and come up with some additional scenes because the discovery itself wasn't enough to carry out a full chapter, I didn't do that because I wanted to end this two chapter 'Filler arc' (kinda? Important stuff happens, but it was mostly slice of life), plus it makes sense for her to know about it at the time, I had Elias comment occasionally on how close he was to let her in their secrets, and with the one year time skip, it felt right.

Anyway, the filler arc is officially over, next chapter (Which probably will be another interlude) will start the nest arc (meaning Elias will leave his nest again... granted he has been leaving it more lately).


	23. Chapter 18

Betas: Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back on QQ forum

* * *

Chapter 18

* * *

Staying with those tiny devils was fu-productive, but I couldn't nor _wanted_ to stay there for too long.

Nothing would keep me from home today.

I jumped out of the shadows with a smile on my face…

…and a tiny meido in my arms.

"Gah!" Reiko gasped, finally able to breathe, or really perceive the world in any way again- she's such a drama queen; we've only been in the shadows for a few seconds at most.

Still, it's another successful shadow hop with a passenger. Yay me!

"Steady…" I placed her on her feet, giving her a pat on the back to see if she falls. She didn't "Alright. All good, let's go!" Then I began walking briskly through the marble white corridor of the Dantalion castle.

"Ah, Ely wait up!" Cried the small maid, struggling to keep up the pace due to her wobbly legs.

"You better be careful in calling me Ely all casual like that. I wasn't kidding when I said Belinda spanked Maid C in the main hall for this very reason." Hmm, the sun was high and bright today, making the ever-present layer of snow in the forest glitter under the light — What a perfect weather for the best day of the year.

"Ehhh, but it's not fair! She calls you Ely all the time!"

"Yeah, but she can be professional when the situation calls for it." A maid turned the corner going the opposite direction, and she squeaked when she saw me. I sent her a radiant smile and left her blushing brightly behind. "If you don't get used to it, you will call me Ely in a time when you really shouldn't."

"Hai!" She said dutifully.

"You switched to Japanese again. You'll have to work on keeping to a single language."

"Ah, H-Hai!"

I chuckled silently. Don't worry, tiny Padawan. One day you're going to be my Belinda.

Walking past a few more unsuspecting maids, each of whom let out similarly funny reactions, we went past the last set of protection and illusionary barriers and reached the most important hallway of the castle, the one that had the best view, and barred only by a single door.

And beyond that door stood a curvy example of a woman molded from the best template the Scandinavian genes could offer, along with a dose of a recently activated Breeder Essence. She was simply stunning.

Her dutiful, composed stance lasted until the crystalline blue orbs of her eyes slid to our direction. Then, her whole body relaxed and the corner of her lips started to curl into a casual smile.

I tackled her to the ground, breaking her composure instantly.

"What the-MMmm!"

Silencing her with my lips was my next step; I grabbed her wrists and pinned them together above her head and dipped my tongue into her warm, mint-flavored depths. Her body bucked underneath mine for a second before she relaxed and started to kiss back.

Our tongue swirled together rhythmically, not worrying about technique or conquest, just enjoying the taste and sensations. I felt her feeling up my gum and teeth, then moving to play around with my lips, while I tasted the area beneath her probing appendage, and worked on the pressure of our lips and the contact we had. By the ruffling of clothes, I figure her legs were softly moving behind me.

Tendrils of drool connected our mouths when we finally separated.

"…What's it with you Dantalions getting touchy-feely with me lately?" She complained with a deadpan look, but I could see the blush no matter how faint it was; it's no use hiding it from me woman!

"We can't help it; your sexiness is growing off the charts."

"So I've been told." She smiled that cool, onee-sama smile of hers. "Welcome back Elias."

"I'm back," I lowered my face again and laid another kiss on her lips. "Thank you for taking care of my Mother."

Her blush increased several notches. "O-Of course, we had a productive week."

"Ah yes, I was watching, quite memorable, we must swap notes about cattle handling techniques sometimes." I smiled evilly. "And I know what you're hiding in your closet."

The proud head maid of the Dantalion pillar family yelped in terror as she came to a terrible realization. Yes, Belinda, I know about the costumes you brought and had been trying out.

I must say; I'm looking forward to the future addition to my little farm.

"So why are you here and not inside with her?" 'Joined hip to hip in a beautiful scissor' I left unsaid, but seriously something shadowy was going on there, it was blurring my shadow eyes. I think Mother let Abby out to play or something

"I don't know, 'secret training' she called. Said I shouldn't see it for my own good." Belinda explained, rolling her eyes.

"Well." I stood back up, finally letting the maid go. "I think she won't object to my surprise arrival."

"GAH!" A gasp from the tiny Japanese maid who till now was standing petrified on the background captured our attention. "S-S-Sexual harassment! Ely, you shouldn't do that!"

That made me chuckle. Oh, this sweet summer child.

"That would be 'young master' to you, Ms. Reiko." Belinda huffed; severely lacking a pair of glasses she could push to the bridge of her nose to fit the mood. "A maid, especially a maid of a Pillar Family, must strive for the perfect decorum at all times."

"The perfect-Nani!? T-then what was that! You were calling Ely by name and, and you two were…" Reiko's cheek spotted a health blush before it was pinched between Belinda's fingers.

"YOU FOOL! A proper maid must always be ready to receive her master's lust! It is part of our righteous duty!" Somehow Belinda makes these 'strict head maid rants' work for her. It was obvious to tell she was having a lot of fun. "I see. You need a review of the basic tenets of what it means to be a maid!"

"Hiiii!"

I left Reiko on Belinda's capable hands and went to the door, opening them without ceremonies, anxious to see…

"Noooooo, I told you not to come in! Wait- _ELY!"_

...My brain tried to process what I was seeing, and it was taking its sweet time.

"Y-You're back! Ely's back! Let me just… ah, hold on… just a little… AHH! Ely! Come here and give mommy hugs and kisses… then help me!"

Mother was… stuck in a huddle of tentacle-like shadows in the middle of our room. Her body was almost entirely inside it; only her chest, shoulders, arms, and head still on the surface. I could see her trying to move up or down to no avail.

It was like her… like her...

"Mouuu! Mommy wants to kiss Ely! Stupid _boobs!"_

Her breasts were clogging the passage. I could see the creamy white globes of flesh mashed on the edge of the shadow, probably having long since spilled out of the cleavage of whatever low dress she was wearing today. They dragged up or down depending on where she tried to go but didn't move very much, essentially locking her in place. It was like she tried to slide down a too-small tunnel.

"Pff!"

"Elyyyyyy, don't laugh!"

I tried not to as I closed the door and locked it. She was right in keeping Belinda out, the twisting shape of her shadow was most likely Abby wondering what the hell was going on, and if she got to close to the surface she could cause seizures to onlookers.

First thing I did was melt my shadow into my mother's, connecting them together so that I could keep the childish eldritch abomination that lives there from probing my mother with a thorny tentacle while she has easy access to her privates. Luckily I found out that she wasn't inclined to do such, and was just occasionally tickling mother's feet to see them wiggling.

Still with some laughter on my lips, I approached the gorgeous woman comically stuck on the floor, "Alright how did you-" as soon as I entered her range, she pulled me close.

"ELY, YOU'RE HERE!" She cried against my sweater, with her arms latched onto my back. "Oh, mommy missed you so much!"

A bubble of warmth formed inside my chest and spread to my face; I hug her back the best I could in my awkward position. "I'm back mom, sorry for being away for so long."

She shook her head, face still pressed against me, "You were having fun with your friend sweetie, and it was wonderful to see. Mommy could endure for that."

"You did," I said against her soft, snow-white hair that put the smell of flowers to shame. "I'm so proud of you…"

Two weeks. I've been away for two weeks, and she didn't freak out during my absence. Granted, the constant usage of our mental connection played a big part in making this possible, but still, it was the longest time we've been away from each other.

And now, with her in my arms, I realized how much _I_ was yearning for her.

Grunting, I sunk my fingers in her silky hair and pulled it down, her face rising with a quick yelp, her back arching with it. I descended on her lips with all the passion I could muster.

We made out for a very long time. There were few places I could touch her, but they were disgustingly easy to reach and play with. She couldn't reach as much, so she slid her hands under my sweater and had to content herself with exploring my torso.

Our kisses were long and passionate, barely coming apart for more than a second. She was constantly murmuring my name and sighed sweet words to me. I grunted back the best I could, but I was too busy tasting that cherry-flavored tongue and enjoying more delightful songs she made when I kneaded her defenseless breasts and teased her puffy nipples to make a proper response; it was exciting, primal and calming at the same time somehow, a good allegory for the weird mother-son-lovers thing we got going on.

I paused to see the result of my work, grabbing the sides of her head and directing her face to me to have a good look.

As expected, she was bright red, panting and presenting a downright silly smile while chanting my name; the puffy and wet lips was the most alluring thing in the word right now, followed closely by her love-struck ruby eyes.

Yeah, the distance certainly had some effect. This was going to be a fun day.

"… Shall I get you out?"

"Pardon?" I smiled at her confusing look as she glanced down. "Oh."

"How did you get there anyway?" I asked, hooking my arms around her ribs and giving some initial pulls.

"I was trying to do a shadow dive like you Ely." She made a grumpy sound. "It didn't work out.

"Evidently."

Shadow Dive was the quirky name mother came up for my technique. Apparently, Dantalions have quirky names for the things they do with their shadow: Grasping Reach, Dark Scouting, Full Projection, Partial Projection, stuff like that. I usually don't bother with it.

We've been having talks about our family legacy this past year and a half, I can tell that it's still a delicate subject to her, but she is… managing. The easiest thing to talk about is shadow moves; she is delighted to share what she knows; especially now that she can try them out.

Imagine my surprise when I find out the thing I do where I jump into the shadow is utterly unprecedented in the family's history. The only examples of Dantalions fully entering their shadows happened with the aid of the old, and now lost, artifacts, like the old Castle Heart that used to allow a Dantalion to enter the castle from anywhere within the region. I had no idea that was the case, so when I entered the shadows in front of my mother a few months ago it caused an extremely amusing reaction. Makes sense now that I think about it; this technique can ignore most shields and barrier, can make you aware of everything that is happening across a large area and it's completely undetectable to most people. If more Dantalions were able to use it, I reckon our family would have been a lot more respected and feared than it is now.

She has been trying to do it by herself for some time, and today she went further than she ever has.

"You were really close mother, do you need me to-."

"No! Mommy can do it alone! I can do this!" She said with a pout.

I keep eye contact until the pout became so big her cheeks began to tremble and forcing her eyes close.

"Alright, woman, jeez…" I smiled as I pushed my fingers on the pout to deflate it comically. "At least let me see what you did, I can give you some tips."

"Noooo _-hng!"_ She whined until I brought my lips down again and kissed an acceptance out of her.

Diving into her memories was trivial, especially with our shadows so tightly connected; I had my mother entire lifetime spread open in front of me but I only focused on her mindset from an hour ago, when she started her attempts.

I discovered something really nice, really nice indeed; my mother was surprisingly good at using her shadows, I don't know if she has been taking inspiration of my deeds, or if years of dutifully reading about and doing Dantalions shadow exercise finally pay off, but she could move, shape, or project her shadow with ridiculous ease if Abby isn't weighing things down… hell, maybe it's _because_ of Abby, perhaps she served as some kind of shadow weight training.

About the Shadow Dive technique; she is really close. The problem was that she is invoking memories of her time using the Shadow Heart, which basically created a tunnel where she could enter. This won't do, the technique isn't nearly as restrictive, but how to pass that on to her without using words…

I smiled as a fun idea formed in my mind.

"… Ely, you're up to something, I can feel it- Ah!"

It was a simple thing to soften the shadow around her breasts and pull them out completely. At the same time, inside the shadow world, my own shadow extended forward like tendrils in the darkness, wrapping themselves around her legs and spreading them open, all under Abby's watchful eyes.

"E-Ely what-"

"I can't help it, mom," I said with a tone that made her perk to attention. "It was so long since I see them that I just _have_ to grab a taste."

"Ah, o-of course sweetie." She arched her back to make them bounce. "But if you do it now, mommy will-Mm!"

It was awkward because they're practically on the floor, but for breasts like these, no men wouldn't mind bending to an awkward position. I hummed as I pressed my face in their softness, feeling the warm flesh molding against me. "They're so full, mom… Belinda was not milking you properly.

"She isn't used to…" Whatever she was going to say got drowned in a groan of relief as I brought the pink tips together and captured them both inside my mouth. Her milk practically exploded with the first sucks; they really were in need of a good milking.

"Oh Satans, both!? Hold on Ely, mommy needs toooohhh~!"

My shadow shifted into tick, slimy octopus tentacle full of suckers along its length, and that tentacle pressed itself on my mother's loins, slowly passing over her trembling slit. On the surface, I was merciless in my assault, reaching all her sweet spots across the side of her breasts and rib cage, and then sliding to her back and massaging her muscles there; these were especially sensitive to stimulation.

"Ah… AH Ely, Ely… So-So forcefUL!" She hugged my head, pressing more of my face into her massive milk tanks. Her hips started to hump my shadow tentacle. "Ooh, oh dear, m-melting, I'm melting!"

No, she was sinking. Her back was slowly lowering to the floor as the shadow hole she made around herself began to gain the consistency of quicksand.

I went with her of course, redoubling my efforts because the milk was really that good and damn I missed her.

With my hungry mouth sucking and nibbling her nipples, my hand on the side of her breasts caressing all the places she likes the best, and a shadowy extension of myself rolling over her defenseless flower, she didn't last very long.

Her orgasmic gasps were silenced by the shadows closing in on her head, I popped my mouth from her nipples and chortled at how her partially submerged body looked like a modern art piece. Then, I laid my head back on my favorite pillows and closed my eyes as the shadows enveloped both of us.

-0-0-0-

The inside of the shadows is extremely hard to explain if you're not a Dantalion.

It wasn't a lack of light. There is light here, for there is no shadow without light and there is no light without a shadow, but the light here is different from the light on the surface, different in a way most beings can't even conceptualize, and would probably go crazy if they try.

It wasn't the presence of the shadows; not the usual shadows of the surface world, but _Real Shadows_ , the phenomenon/substance/force the Dantalions were intimately connected to. These are actually easy to visualize; they looked like the profound darkness of space, not that Hollywood bullshit; the pitch blackness that makes pitch back look like light gray. They felt like a mother's womb, a huddle of comfort so deep and warmth that one could close their eyes and fall asleep for eternity. And they sounded like magma descending down a mountain with a choir of shrill voices underneath.

It was the way a fully submerged body lost its consistency and melted into the shadows around, it's perception, thoughts, and emotions spreading over an enormous distance that bent and folded in shapes which a normal mind couldn't comprehend.

For any other being, it would mean death.

For a Dantalion, it was a natural state of being.

I could spend years trying to come up with words in an attempt to capture what it truly felt being in here, but the words don't exist, and I would need a thousand years of creating a meticulous new alphabet just to explain the first few concepts.

For the first time since… my first few trips here really, I didn't spread myself to as far as I could go and trod along the fine line on the edges of the surface. Instead, I focused on myself, and dove deeper to find who I was looking for.

Mother's core being was bouncing around the place like a clumsy, overly excited Hummingbird. The star-sized, impossible-to-describe shape/form/body/essence of the Abyss followed close behind, looking more compressed than I ever saw her. She looked thrilled to have her longtime friend and body partner visiting her realm.

I couldn't help but feel nostalgic watching mother bumbling around the Land of Twisting Shadow. If her experience was being anything like mine, she must be overwhelmed with wonder by the sheer magnificence of the place and how her body and soul were reacting to it, but also disoriented. Like, _really_ disoriented.

While the Dantalions' shadow abilities are pretty instinctual in most cases, navigating the Shadow Realm was not one of them.

So I closed my metaphorical eyes and got to work doing something that I find extremely hard to do. To my surprise, some parts of Abby noticed my efforts (her consciousness is rather iffy and not at all explainable in human terms), most likely because of my still ongoing connection to my mother's Shadow, and promptly, almost insistently, lend her aid.

My endeavor became insultingly easy after that, allowing me to do in seconds what took me hours on my last attempt… it also made me feel really, _really_ small… but who cares, I can aim to eldritch-shadow-being levels once I break past Satan levels!

A bubble of 'regular reality' formed around me. The True Shadows on the walls shifted to a series of interlocking lines made of a material similar to Shadow Glass but pulsing and looking more organic. Unlike Shadow Glass, it didn't blur the view of the shadowy landscape in any way.

My body changed back to its natural shape in the same instant, leaving my clothes and other unnecessary things on a different fold while keeping only the essentials. With an exertion of my will, I added 'gravity' to that list of essentials and felt my naked ass landing on the warm curved floor beneath.

With a loud yawn and a much-needed stretch of my bones, I laid back with my arms lazily behind my head trying to reach maximum comfiness on the disgustingly comfortable confines.

Then, I sent a wave of my presence across the land. Mother's core being perked up to the feeling immediately and suddenly dashed on my direction like an adorable puppy coming to its master. I smiled at that.

Overwhelming sense of loss of direction caused by crashing of infinite currents of True Shadows be dammed! Mother always finds her way back to me.

I saw her denting the walls of my bubble. It was interesting to see; the more she entered, the more consistent and coherent her contours got as if she was making a perfect mold of her body on a sheet of latex. I could see her slender arms outstretched in front of her first, then the shape of her head along with a faint expression of joy, then the giant breasts jutting beneath and the hourglass figure following right behind it. She stretched the wall for the last inch after and popped inside, appearing directly above of me with her hair blossoming around her head like a crystallized halo.

"ELY!" She shouted, smiling a wide, wondrous smile, her eyes crackling with excitement. She was glowing - her whole body was glowing, just like mine. Anything that wasn't a shadow shone brightly here. "THIS PLACE IS AMAZING!"

"Yeah." I spread my arms open to let her crush me in the best way possible. "Haven't stopped to appreciate it in a long time."

She perked up, her face directly above my own and her boobs mashed on my chest, one of my favorite positions to be in. She looked like she was going to say something, but her words died on her lips, and her eyes grew wide.

I was about to ask what was going on when her mouth parted open.

"Ely… You look- You look _gorgeous."_

"Heh, look at who's speaking." I started to lower my eyes to look at _The Cleavage_ when I felt her hands on my cheeks, forcing me to face in her direction. "Mother?"

"Sorry, just… Let me watch you some more…" Her bright crimson orb meticulously passed over every inch of my face, seemly drinking my visage. "… That's why you made that collar." She commented breathlessly "It's just… woah."

Wait a second-Oh crap my glamour!

"Don't…" My words faded.

Don't what? Don't look at me? She is my mother for fucks sake, why was I hiding my true features from her again?- Oh yeah. "Are you ok? Can you still respond right?" She didn't try to molest me on the spot, or tried to kiss me, or cried and proclaimed her adoration… wait, that's mother I was thinking about, she regularly tries to do those things, so that's not a good measurement. "Please don't go love zombie on me."

"Pardon?" Her eyes slipped to the side but soon went back, it's like my face was a black hole and her attention was a spaceship, it just kept getting pulled in.

She flinched back a little when I bopped her nose, "Don't look at me too much, you're gonna get distracted."

"… That's what usually happens anyway." She responded with a smile. "It took me by surprise that's all."

"Yeah, you're taking this better than the others I showed, they had annoying reactions, even when not immediately apparent."

Mother giggled, " Oh, like what?"

"Falling in love with me." I rolled my eyes at the memories; it was normal for a maid to lust after me. Hell, it's practically a work requirement by that point. But if I walk around with glamour off, some will _genuinely_ fall deeply in love with me. Used to think it wasn't possible to fall in love due to physical attraction alone "And try to sneak into our bed. Belinda had to beat them off with a stick."

"Hehehe, joke's on them, Mommy's already in love with you." She dropped a long but chaste kiss over my lips. Her eyes widened again. "You even _taste_ better! I thought this was impossible."

"Yeah, can you please not push it? I didn't properly study the effects of prolonged exposure yet," It's kinda hard to do during this pesky puberty thing because I _kept getting prettier,_ so there was no way to get stable results.

" _'Didn't study the effects of prolonged exposure yet'._ Hehehe, Ely is such a dork sometimes." She lowered down to lay her head on my chest, tilting her body to the side a little so she could rest over me. We were mostly pressed together, even more now that I was rapidly approaching her height; my hand instinctively rose to play with her hair.

For a while we just stayed there, cuddling under the comforting darkness of the twisting shadow, watching how Abby orbited around the bubble like the rings of a planet.

Everything was perfect, so perfect I almost forgot what I had prepared for her.

I dip my finger on the side, forming a connection to my shadow storage and pulling a rectangular case from it. Mother sleepy eyes blinked when I presented it to her.

"Happy birthday mother."

There was a confused second of silence.

"…Oh." She blinked slowly, then jumped up "Oh!"

"Aren't we doing that now?" I said innocently, like I hadn't planned this way before this year.

"I forgot I had one of those." She said with a incredulous voice, looking a bit embarrassed. " But how did you know when…" She swallowed back the unnecessary thoughts and tackled me into a hug. "Thank you, Ely!"

I nuzzled my smiling face between her breasts for a little bit, then bumped the package on her side to remind her of its existence, "Come on open up."

She took it and brought it to her face, dragging her cheek over the leather surface. "Mmmmm~ A present from Ely!" She punctuated that with a girly shrill.

I rolled my eyes at the cute display.

"What did I get, what did I get… And up!" She opened up the packet and looked at the content inside.

I saw her whole body freeze.

Her mouth opened and closed a few times but no sound came, I calmly pressed myself on her back, hugging her tense form from behind to give her some comfort. When her voice finally came back, it was small and quiet, with a noticeable amount of numbness in her tone; the words she made were automatic, like some of her past had slipped out.

"Thank you kindly, my lord, but I do not wish to participate in these-"

"I'm not Gerhardt Lehndorff, I'm not Sirzechs Lucifer, I'm not a media person or an uninformed vassal offering you a gift. I'm your son, mother." I trailed loving kisses along her neck to her ears, whispering the last part there. "Come back to me."

"Ah!" She blinked, her body relaxing on my arms. "Ah, Um, Ely, this is… Well…" She reached inside and raised a transparent Queen's Piece to her eye level. "I-I can't use this."

"You can…" I nuzzled her hair, drawn in her nice smell. "This set is entirely off the records." And much more than that. "You are Araneya Dantalion, you have a right to it."

She cradled the piece with both of her hands, just looking at it. "…I don't."

"Then I'm giving it back to you." It was just a small step, more symbolic than anything but it held enormous meaning.

... I'll give her back everything that was taken from her, no matter how long it takes.

I buried my face on her neck and nibbled on a specific part that never failed to make her moan, that lowered the tension of the situation a bit.

"It's not a normal set you know." I smiled, feeling her body shivering. "I had the ability to make them for a while now… But when I got my hands on the King piece, boy it has been fun. They are quite similar to it you know, like crippled King pieces, Beelzebub had to do that because the magical formula of the King Piece is already so complex that it can't hold the even more complex formula of Devil Reincarnation, so he had to compromise and lessen the benefits. Another funny thing, is that the most similar pieces to the Queens are the Pawns, which was not something one would think at first glance, and magic-wise, it was fascinating to see an extremely complicated formula turning into a remarkably simple one with only minor adjustments."

My explanation was successful in calming Mother down; perhaps it was a combination of my voice on her ear and my body rubbing against her back did the trick.

"Recently I managed to get some of the material required to put my ability to the test." Thank you, Crimson Sabbath. And sorry Agares Family, it was nothing personal really, your floating islands just happen to have the material I needed. "While Beelzebub has resources and experience, I have something that he doesn't…" Namely; the ability to instinctively break down magic and intuitively coming up with new ideas for it. Something that has only gotten stronger over the years. "This set was not made based on the King Piece; it was made _from_ King Pieces. I hadn't managed to give any different benefits than the usual ones _yet,_ but they will be much, much more pronounced. And, because they're stronger, they can handle the transformation of much stronger races. No gods though, those are tricky."

Mother slowly opened a smile; this made _me_ relax this time. "She's pretty."

"What-Oh." I try to contain my blush. "I… just… found the design a little too boring." The Queen piece on her hand was molded in the likeness of a beautiful woman with an extremely large bust. I don't know how I'd feel if she found out who I based it off from. "Custom made chess pieces always look better."

"Yes." She lowered her hands down, trailing a thumb over the piece's form.

"Do you like it?"

"... Yes." She twitched a smile, "I never thought I'd actually get one of these. Thank you, Ely. I love you." She turned her head to brush her lips on my own.

...

…Something was wrong

This was a bad idea. I've pushed too much too fast, she was not really yet, the gift was…

No, I'm being silly, she loved the gift, I don't need a mental connection to know that but ...

… But it wasn't what she truly wanted.

"Ely?... Sweetie, you're starting to overreact, I really like it I swear."

What could it be? She has most of what she wants; she told me that. I thought I would be making a point with this gift; a peerage is a symbol of devil high society nowadays and the right to own one has been stripped from her. I wanted to show her, even privately, that she wasn't lower than anyone, she was free from their shackles even if they didn't know it yet. Plus having a peerage would help her connect to more people. The bond between a King and their Peerage is extremely-

My eye widened.

A king and…

… How could I've been so stupid?

"Hey, Ely, Elllyyyy, mommy's gonna bite you if you don't respond-Owf!"

I threw her to the floor, pinning her.

"I'm sorry mother, I didn't consider your feelings."

Her loss, her status, the injustice laid on her… simply aren't that important in her eyes.

I don't know if this was foolishness, selfishness, fear, some kind of psychological damage, or even _strength_ , but what she had in the past isn't as important to her as what she has now.

For Araneya Dantalion, there was only one thing - one _person_ that truly matters, the rest be damned.

This was staring me in the face all this time. I've became so used to it that it's easy to slip my mind; it was in her every action, her every thought and emotion.

... Are you truly alright? Are you truly getting better? Or are you only changing because I want you to?

I suppose that doesn't matter.

I will accept you in any way.

"Mother. I'd like to change the birthday present if you'd allow me." I said firmly.

"M-Moou, you're taking this too seriously."

"I want to give you what want the most, the perfect present, nothing less than what you deserve." I look past her blushing face, and trailed my hand over to her own, taking the Queen's piece.

A pulse of power echoed as my energy invaded the piece's core and claimed it as my own, the power easily spread to the others through its inherited connection with the rest of the set and filled their transparency with bright marble white.

They're mine now, my set of evil pieces, my future peerage.

"Mother, I will take you as my queen."

Silence spread after that.

There were a thousand emotions reflected in my mother eyes, the intensely followed my hand as I set _my_ piece between her mountainous breasts, ready to connect her to me, _**forever.**_

Because in the end, isn't that what she desired the most?

She visibly gulped, her breath accelerating. The eyes didn't break contact with the piece. "They won't accept..." came as a whisper

"They won't know... On my birthday, I'll receive another set of evil pieces, a regular, properly registered set. That will be my official peerage, a peerage to use in the light." I tapped my finger on top of the Queen Piece, pressing it more against my mother skin. _"And another to use in the shadows."_

"Ely's peerage... Ely's queen…Ah… Ah… I'd be…" Her trembling hands came to warp on mine, her breaths growing louder, sharper _"_ Ely _..."_

I looked into her eyes.

And got lost in the love-struck sea of eldritch red.

 _ **"Claim me."**_

-0-0-0-

My arm burst out from the shadows into the world of light. I drop my hand on the floor to use it as leverage to pull the rest of my body.

My torso surged like I was coming out of heavy tar, the shadows undulating around me as I threw my head in a loud groan. My clothes stayed behind, but that wasn't important.

I started to buck my hips to get them out of the shadows, each buck brought it closer to the surface until it made a round shape appear, stretching the shadows until they dripped from it, revealing my mother's head.

Her face was embedded on my loins, my member wrapped by the wet warmth of her mouth and tight walls of her throat as she hummed a song that I'm pretty sure she'd used to lure me to sleep when I was a baby.

That profane fact made me grunt a burst of laughter, and in true devil fashion, it made me even harder.

I bent down and laced my finger on her arms, pulling her up as I got to my feet. She stayed latched onto my dick the entire way, shaking her head up and down along its length with a slightly crazed look on her eyes, the wet, slurping sounds of her self-inflicted facefuck filled the room.

Best shadow exit ever.

Grabbing her hair tight, I pulled her from my member and had a look inside her gaping mouth. Huh, it seems that the semen ejaculated from my shadow-based body doesn't translate to our actual body. A shame, mother was the kind of woman that looked good messed up.

Well, I guess I have to mess her up again.

I threw her on the bed. She bounced on the sheets with a happy coo, her trembling hip immediately in the air, a sign of a well-trained slut.

Something made me pause, and it wasn't the awe-inspiring vision before me, though that did have something to do with it. It was her aura, I didn't notice before because we're in the shadows, but mother was _radiating_ with pure _power,_ _much_ more than what I was expecting.

"Ohh, Ohhh, my king~ I can't feel your seed inside me anymore. Oh please, bless me with it once again."

Alright, that was a great way to reorganize my priorities.

Getting on the bed, I laid a heavy spank on her ass cheek, appreciating the way it jiggled from the strike and the sound my mother made because of it.

"Already lost my seed, hum? Not a good first impression, my queen." My hands knead her ass, spreading them wide to reveal mother's attractive holes to my eyes. "Perhaps I should punish you instead."

 _"Yeessssss~_ Punish your queen my beloved king!" She's really into this play. I don't think she stopped referring to herself as a queen ever since she became one. "Discipline me on how to properly serve you my Kin _ **ggg!"**_ Her voice went several octaves higher when I missed her moist slit and pushed against the tight little rosebud above.

"Hmph, your pussy couldn't hold my seed; let's see it your ass does a better job."

 _"OOOooooooo!"_

She grabbed the sheets with so much strength that she almost tore them, her whole curvy body arching as I eased my way inside with shallow but firm thrusts, her tunnel was offering a delicious amount of resistance.

There were loud knocks on the door.

"Ely!- I mean young master! It's an emergency!"

I tilted my head to the noise, stopping about a third of the way inside my mother's anus. "Oh?" My fingers dropped on her tensed back, massaging the extremely tensed muscles. "What's wrong my queen… Afraid that little Reiko will see you like this?"

Her succulent mewl told me more than a thousand words could.

I immediately used my shadow to unlock the door.

"Reiko~ You can come innn- _guh!"_

Her tunnel _clenched_ around my shaft in a crushing grip.

Oh. Hell. Yeah, her exhibition fetish got stronger somehow, I'm soooo gonna enjoy this.

"Ely! Thank Satans-GAH! Ely! Naked! Naked Ely!" I started thrusting against mother's resisting walls again, slowly filling the room with the muffled squeals of the Lady of the House. "And, and, is that _Lady Araneya!?"_

"AH-HYAhhh!-" Mother bit down the pillow to lower the sound of her orgasm, her blush was spreading across her entire body now. "Ah, ah I'm a… I'm a-AH… _Immoral_ woman~ Oh oh, my own son's… My own son's _cock_ is _violating_ my ass hnnng! It feel _shoooo_ good! Oh Oh OH! It's making me cummmmmm~!" She climaxed again, making my head swim on the sensation of her quivering walls.

"Mmmn… Don't worry Reiko, this is just Bella. We're doing a little mother and son roleplay. Please don't tell mother I don't know how she would react-"

"Nevermind that!" The usually timid girl was suddenly beside the bed looking… she looked alarmed. "Young master, there was a situation!"

Only then, the meaning of her words broke through my sex-clouded mind.

 _"Speak,"_ I commanded, my tone so severe that the fact I was halfway deep inside the ass of my biological mother didn't seem to matter.

"SIR! I-It's Belinda sir! She- she's gone!"

…What?

-0-0-0-

 **[Belinda Abamelik's Pov]**

Annoying…

I was surprised when I felt the summoning spell latching on me.

That by itself wasn't alarming, but the fact that I couldn't break the connection was.

The pull was strong, _unnaturally_ strong even. When I managed to slow the effect the lower half of my body had already dissolved, so by then, it couldn't be stopped anymore.

The modern summon spells can't reach this kind of strength.

I turned to Reiko, the little apprentice maid looked shocked and alarmed, like she'd never seen a summoning before.

"Tell Elias-" I started, only for the spell to unexpectedly surge, breaking through the resistance and pulling me to a tunnel of red light.

Annoying, really _fucking_ annoying.

I jammed a piston of raw demonic energy on a diagonal locking pattern, that magical jam prolonged the perceived time of the transfer from an instant to a few short minutes.

The old summoning spell was created by the devils, so we have some loopholes we can use to prepare ourselves for a meeting; this was one of them.

This was a summoning with a particular summon in mind; me. There is no way that wasn't the case, not with Elias and Lady Araneya so close. If it was a 'common' summoning spell, they'd be targeted first, given that the pillar devils have much more fame among the humans than the rest of the hordes of hell, and if it was a power-seeking spell, the sheer volume of their energy would guarantee they'd be the priority. Only with a location-based spell I could have been targeted before them, but even then one of the dozens of other maids positioned around us would be targeted first. So there was only one answer.

The spell came for me, and me alone.

I grunted a profanity and began to power the emergency circles drawn on my skin. I can't summon my swords from here, but this won't be a problem on the other side.

This wasn't a trap, a trap implies the target don't know they're going to be attacked, this was a classic 'devil pull up', greatly used by the Angels and the Fallen to bring unsuspecting devils directly into their grasp. The spell has safeguards in place for cases like this but would still place the devil in a hazardous situation for a few seconds, and that usually is all they need. That was one of the reasons the Satans started to take them out of circulation.

It's unlikely to be other factions in this particular case, but it would still be an enemy. I tried to think on whoever had the knowledge to pull something like this, both about the spell and about _me_. A very short, but very worrying list comes to mind.

I fucking hope it isn't Stalin, that old freak is more troublesome as an undead than he ever was while alive.

The tunnel trembled, signaling the end of my prep time.

Here we fucking go-

I appeared over a complex magic circle glowing hellfire red, with a snowfall of crystallized demonic particles falling in my wake.

I was standing with my spine straight, my hands cupped low before me and eyes partway close in a serene expression. The long skirt of my uniform made a nice, soft flap, which only increased the image of the 'ethereal demonic maid' I wanted to convey.

It took me a mere instant to take in my surroundings.

A wide, cold basement of an old house; the place has been cleaned to the point of being sterilized but still contained some marks of the object that used to be there on the floor. There was a blackened narrow window set in the corner against the ceiling and a passage that led up a set of stairs and a wooden door above. Other than that there was nothing else in this perfectly squared room.

My summoners were two people; a man and a woman, both looking middle aged, and both looking anxious and terrified, the woman more than the man, for he looked somewhat numb, perhaps the fact his arms and shirt were drenched in blood had something to do with it.

But even with that fact, the woman held most of my attention, unlike the man, who was an average human on all apparent ways, the woman has magic in her, a lot of magic, the kind that could only come from an ancient magical bloodline or a freak accident of fate.

The latter was most likely, one glance at her was enough to tell that she was untrained, and no mage family that I know of would let someone like her go for so long without training.

And that's it, no other presence on the basement, in the old house on top, or in the isolated area around, other than the trivial aura of a teenage delinquent trying to break into the house, we were utterly alone.

I slowly lowered my eyes to the floor; the circle was perfect, it was drawn with the right amount of blood and scripted in a way that could almost be called beautiful, and the sacrifice… A young man with his arms and legs nailed to the floor, a bloody open hole on his back and his lungs resting over his shoulder like caricatures of wings; a blood eagle, been a while since I last saw one. There were signs of struggle all over the body, and the work itself was too messy; an amateur work, definitely, the hole was too narrow, the ribs weren't broken properly and the organs were damaged on the extraction, it's like they try to reproduce something that they'd seen in pictures or videos but had no practice in actually doing the act.

It was easy to figure out what had happened, especially considering the tears lines on the couple's faces; there was another summoner with them, and he didn't know that he was the sacrifice.

But I didn't let my guard down; no devil can afford to let their guard down with a summoning like this. Even if my summoners _look_ like they are just two humans way out of their depth, the brutal sacrifice and the perfection of the circle made this a powerful ritual, _especially_ if this was their first kill, which looks like it was. Fuck, the loss of innocence alone elevated the spell to entirely new levels.

Stronger devils than me were enslaved by less.

An oppressing silence oozed along for long moments. The humans were two open books to my eyes; I could see how their terror grew, stimulated by their disbelief of the situation and the low amount of killing intent I was pouring over them. Fuck, had my body ever been this expressive?

"Thee." The humans flinched when I spoke. "Thee has't committ'd a most wondrous transgression 'gainst mine own l'rd, f'r thee calleth his most priz'd s'rvant so suddenly. F'r the valorous of thy soul, thee bett'r has't a valorous reasoneth." I spoke whatever old jargon my mind first conjured, the words aren't important, presentation was. In particular, the way I increased my killer intent as the words went along, making it seem like their death was becoming more and more certain.

By that point, I already put my metaphorical finger on the return switch, but it's crucial that I have answers. I was apparently _personally_ summoned by a pair of what seems like amateur summoners. That didn't make any sense. To, that was impossible. One of the two must know me, or they were told about me, neither option was good.

The man was locked in an apparent shock, his teeth clinking together as he struggled to hold his bowels. The woman fell on her backside, her legs too shaken to keep her standing, her ashen face, short breaths, and wide eyes made clear she was at the start of a panic attack. But then, a rush of _something_ passed through her eyes, and she managed to pull herself back together slightly.

She licked her dry lips before speaking, her voice weak and trembling, it was full of fear and… Hope?

"B-Belinda?"

I bore my gaze over her; so this is the one who knows about me.

I've never seen this woman in my life.

"Tell me human," I said in modern English, the most used human language. "How do you come across that name?"

I lowered the pressure for the first time, can't have her passing out on me.

The woman tried to start a sentence a few times, to no avail. I was about to speak again when she finally managed to say something.

"It's…It's you, right?... A-Aunt Belinda?"

Finally! Russian; now I know which language to use-

What the fuck did she just say!?

"I… uh…" The woman fought her trembling legs to get back on her feet. Meanwhile, I was examining her very, _very_ closely. "…I don't think you recognize me."

Pale blond hair with a few gray locks, green eyes with deep shadows under them, a faint scar on the corner of the left eyebrow, a beauty mark on her right side of the chin, high, noble cheekbones, small button nose, mouth shaped like… she looked so much like…

…

"Please… Try to remember." She got closer to the circle, her hand, _a hand with a birthmark on the back of it_ , moving to grip a very familiar brooch on the collar of her blouse.

I gave her that brooch.

"I'm-"

"Marzia." I stepped forward and had to catch myself before I crashed head first on the edge of the circle. "… It's really you? You look… Shit, how long as it been… ten years right? Wait no…" Something indescribable bubbled inside my chest. Marzia, I was talking to _Marzia,_ something I never thought I'd be able to… ever since- "Wait, you _summoned_ me, how the hell did you- I thought Elsa had-"

She closed the distance in a second, passing through the edge of cycle, the only protection a summoner could have, without a second thought. Her body crashed on me, it wasn't able to throw off my balance even a little bit. Marzia's cries seemed distant, muffled, her tears stained my uniform while her form shook violently against mine. I automatically warped my arms around her. Satans, she was so thin...

I barely registered the man falling on his ass with a relieved cry; my mind was too busy analyzing the situation. Marzia had summoned me; she had participated in a bloody ritual that would forever taint her soul presumably in faint hopes to reach me, Marzia the sweet girl who couldn't harm a fly, took part in _human sacrifice_.

"Marzia, what the hell happened?" I whispered to her.

That set her off.

"Aunty, Aunty, please you have to help, we tried everything! It has been two years, two years! Two years of nothing! I-I said we should call you, I said time and time again, but mother wouldn't listen, she never listened! You, you're our last hope; you have to help me pleasepleaseoh _Please!"_ Most of her words were an incoherent ramble, her voice broken by her chokes and tears, I could barely make sense of what she was saying.

"Breathe, Marzia _breathe!"_ I grabbed her shoulder and shook her slightly in an attempt to get her to focus. My feelings would have to wait for now, Marzia needed a strong front. "I'm here now okay, I'll help you in any way I can, but you have to calm down and tell me what's the problem."

She tried to swallow her tears. It didn't work, but she wasn't babbling anymore; I could see she was making an effort to control herself but wasn't having much success.

"They…" Her voice trembled, the deep anguish she tried to keep hiding boiling to the surface. "They _took_ her from me, they took my little girl! _They took her!"_ These echoing words unleashed a loud wail from the frail woman; she buried herself in my chest, pressing herself tightly against me, just like she used to as a girl.

What she said, what she implied, crawled its way into my mind.

Marzia's little girl.

Marzia's daughter.

Marzia's daughter, she…

 _The girl was tiny, tinier than any girl her age, the burning building behind them was illuminating her soft features, her big blue eyes, and adorable blonde pigtails, all attributes that made her look utterly huggable, her little blue dress was ruined though, but that's understandable considering where she has been rescued from._

 _Unlike the other children around her, she wasn't crying over her injuries; in fact, the burned patch of skin on her arm barely got a passing glance. I wanted to laugh at that irony, looks like you actually did get a worthy heir to the family Elsa, too bad she came from the daughter who hates you the most._

 _"Who are you, ma'am?" The kid asked, eyes wide and unusually shining, Hoh? Did my daring rescue leave an impression? Hah! Sucks to be you, Elsa._

 _"Heya to you too kid, I'm your awesome grandaunt, nice to meetcha!"_

 _The cute girl tilted her head, "You don't look old."_

 _"That's 'cause I'm a devil!"_

My fingers dug into Marzia's shoulder with a little too much force than necessary. But I couldn't help it.

I was about to explode.

"Tell me right now… _Who took Nadia?!"_

* * *

 **A/Note:** Some clarification because it has been months.

1) The Shadow Heart was a artifact that keep the Dantalion Castle inside the shadow back during Araneya's youth, it appeared in chapter 4.

2) Shadow Glass is what happens when you put a sheet of physical shadow over a mass of True Shadow and manifest on the word, It's useless for combat but it makes for mind-blowingly beautiful sculptures, they sell in the market for more than Phoenix tears duet to the rarity. Only a few Dantalions in history were able to make them, Araneya is one of those few, and she did with a eldritch abomination slumbering over her shadow. Also appeared in chapter 4

3) Nadia is the loli who was conning a vampire into teaching her magic, she had a illusion base sacred gear and appeared at the end of chapter 8. Yes after months I finally gonna use her.

Now to the big thing; peerages. This was always supposed to be a special point in the story, giving that the very first concept I come up for it was "OC devil collecting waifus". In truth, I'd like Elias to have a typical Peerage like any other but the thing is he got his hand on a Evil Piece years ago, and has been studying them ever since. It wouldn't make sense for him to not have a break through by now.

He can make Evil piece, so in theory he can make all the girl he meets into his peerage or peerages if he have the materials, but I wanted the concept of peerage to have a special meaning, so, like the chapter implied, Elias will have two peerages a Black set and a White set (a full chest board, get it?) composed of the most special women of his live; Araneya just became his White queen and the first member.

You might be thinking 'woah that'll be a shit load of character!" and my answer is yes, yes that will be, but don't worry, while the peerages will be big, the number of pieces don't correspond with the number of characters (Some will take more than one piece to covert) plus some of them will be cannon characters, and not background/one off characters like Kalawarner (whom I'm kind of rethinking her role) but full canon character with a noticeable presence in cannon.


	24. Chapter 19

Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw, back at QQ forum

* * *

Chapter 19

* * *

The house was cold.

Even with its large fireplace constantly blazing on the main hall, walls of wood constructed to cleverly distribute the heat across the structure, and its modern heating system - a recent addition to the ancestral halls - the house was cold.

Not on a factual sense, but in a deeper, more existential one. A person wandering around here, especially when alone, would feel the same cold chill from the snowy night outside. They would tremble even though their bodies are warm, click their teeth even though they are near the fire, slowly but surly feel the ice creaking up on their veins. This was a house where things froze.

It was not a place for anyone to live, yet, a family did, for generations. I wonder how it feels to be naked against the elements in one's own home.

The woman named Marzia looked uncomfortable, but at the same time, she seems used to it. She barely trembled as they approached what could be considered the heart of the house, even though her breath came out as a white mist by the time she reached the door.

She stopped before the white oak door, taking a deep breath to steady herself, then, raised her hand to knock. She paused an inch from the surface, and in an act of defiance, gripped the handle and pushed it open without announcing herself.

If a person made their way through the house and reach this particular part of it, they would be amazed to find that the room _wasn't_ completely frozen, or that their bodies weren't hit by a glacial rush of air as soon as they opened the door. It certainly feels like it should, from the area surrounding it.

But no, the temperature didn't change, nor was the room frozen. It could even be called homely if it wasn't for the general coldness. Many people would call it spartan, but that's because nowadays very few truly appreciate the sight of rows and rows of shelves filled to the brim with books, neatly organized in a beautiful display of preserved knowledge. The rest of the room was where most would take the spartan look, for it was composed solely by neutral, non-distinct colors and simple furniture.

The large bed immediately across the room certainly made for an impressive sight though, as did the woman on it.

She was sitting with her back straight as an arrow looking unflinching at the new arrivals. Her hands were calmly laid before her, partially hidden by the dark shawl she had draped over her shoulders; the only color different than the snow-white of the sheets that concealed her lower body. The whiteness around her seems to invade the shades of her own body; the paleness of her skin, the gray of her hair, it all seems to have a bit of white in them.

The woman was elderly; anyone would be able to see that, but she was sturdy and imposing for her age. No doubt people would have made comparisons to a stern grandmother, or a severe headmistress of a boarding school if they saw her.

Until they see her eyes that is.

Her eyes were frozen in time; they still held what they had decades before, still capable of provoking the same feelings on people they used to.

Many knelt before these eyes.

"M…Mother." Marzia Abamelik stood tall where most would buckle; perhaps the presence of the second woman, the one following close behind her, was boosting her courage. "I came to thank you for your help till now, a-and announce we will take over Nadia's search!"

The courage didn't last much longer however, the glacial blue eyes seem to suck away all from her. Soon, Marzia was cowering under the stare.

"… So, you resorted to this." The elderly's voice was just like her image, eerie, chilling, and full of a translucent essence that trailed behind. "And once again you failed to grasp the significance of what you've done."

The other woman entered further into the room, slipping past Marzia with soft, graceful steps. Her presence was that of a ghost, with none of the others paying any mind to it, both for entirely different reasons. She stopped short from the line where she would stop being welcomed and scanned the bookshelves with her eyes.

On the snow-white field of the bed, another figure stirred; an obese cat whose fur has been blending perfectly with the color of the sheets, sprawled to awareness. His golden stare locked on the form of the second woman as she inspected the room, his bushy tail waved from side to side to indicate his alerted state.

"It doesn't matter." Marzia managed, her thoughts stirring from the instinctual fear she felt toward the elderly woman into something more important. "I said from day one; all that matters is my daughter. I… I'm will do anything to find her. Even… even dirtying my hands."

The pale blue eyes of the older woman narrowed microscopically.

"You did more than that, in your ignorant haste… And that's not even considering the beast you've unleashed upon the world."

"That beast has a name you know." The second woman commented casually from the side. She was ignored.

Marzia tightened her fist. "I wouldn't have done it if you haven't… failed. Y-You failed to find her, mother! That was the sole reason I contacted you again." Her hands shot up to quickly wipe the tears that have gathered on the corner of her eyes. "You were planning to abandon her, aren't you!? You think she is a lost  
cause-"

"Silence."

The quiet word was an ultimate, most of the words from the elderly woman were.

Marzia had to take a breath so remind herself she still alive. Her mother stood completely still, like a statue. It almost seemed like she wouldn't move again, but then she did; a small tilt of the head.

"… Your daughter's actions had led herself to be captured by the creatures of darkness. And your negligence was what allowed her to do so. I came here on your despairing hours to mitigate the damage caused by the loss of the blood of the Abamelik to the masters of blood." Her old eyes were pools of eternal winter; no one can look away, only freeze under it. "I spent the last two years making sure our family wouldn't be eradicated by the whims of a vindictive animal and a well-constructed blood ritual. Nadia Abamelik's recovery was important, but it was always secondary."

Perhaps somewhere in Marzia's mind, she knew her mother would think like this, but to hear her saying so blandly, it seems to be a shock.

She reacted accordingly, taking a step back as if she was struck. "…W-What… So, all this time… You… how could you…"

"The girl's odds were slim even when I before I started looking. It only grew slimmer since." The old woman explained. "If she is not dead by now, then she is worst off. But at least her blood won't be a hindrance to us." She matched her daughter horrified looks with chilling indifference. "I have told you before, and I will tell you again: Have another child while you still have your natural fertility, a magically prolonged one will lessen the quality of the heir." Her icy eyes turned into a shade of that some would even call annoyance if they looked more human-like. "Though I fear that will be the only option given what all this stress as done to your body."

Marzia's expression twisted indescribably; disbelief was there, along with anger, horror, confusion, and a flash of expectance.

I believe she never directly confronted her mother about this before, but just chose to believe in her.

She will scream, her body is projecting it. It was obvious by the way she drew breath and the way the muscles of her neck and chest were tensing, but at that moment, the air changed. A changed so brusque that every magical sensitive person in the room had to take a pause.

This house was old, well-lived, and most importantly, magical. It has been the lair of the Abamelik family from generations, usurped from an even older magical lineage that had made it their lair before them. And this meant that over the centuries, powered by all the magic users these walls housed; a _powerful_ threshold has formed. And for each new layer of protection cast upon these halls, it has grown stronger.

Until now it has been letting the intruder pass for she was welcomed by one of the residents, but in this room, where the will of the matriarch was everything, it would only allow them a certain distance, any closer and it would give even a High-Class devil trouble to move.

Belinda Abamelik powered through it in a single step, a feat she has failed to achieve many, many times in the past.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did I interrupt something? Man, I can't believe who clumsy I am." Her mockery was punctuated by another step, this time there was a visible shift as the transparent energy of the threshold failed to push her back.

The cat hissed loudly, the fur of his back fully raised as he pierced the threat with his glare. Another step took the demonic creature directly beside his mistress' bed, by that point, he was ready to attack, even though every one of his instincts was telling otherwise.

Frozen blue finally turned to meet their much warmer counterpart. Cold indifference met fiery fury.

"Hello, Elsa." Said Belinda in a scorning smile. "Been a while… Got new wrinkles I see."

"… And you are still enjoying the reward of your forsaken humanity, as always." The elderly weighed what once was her twin and found herself disappointed. "I suppose congratulations are in order, devil. You masters seem to have given you a proper boost of power this time, I wonder what atrocities were needed for it."

"Hours and hours of training and getting shit done, something you seem to have forgotten how to do." Belinda crossed her arms, easily matching the glacial stare. "Loving reunions aside… Nadia. Why am I only hearing about this now?"

"I fail to see how Abamelik's business would be of concern of a devil," For the first time the elderly woman's face shifted from its cold neutrality, changing it to match her darkening mood. "You smell worse than before, are you part of a Devil's peerage again? A higher devil than the last one I see."

"You know damn well that anything related to Marzia and Nadia are my business." Belinda hissed through gritted teeth, ignoring the last remark. "I have them under my protection."

"For what good it did them." The elder said, still trying to gauge the level of grown of this creature, for the first time in a long while, she felt something resembling shook. None of it showed on the outside.

"Oh, because you're one to tell." Belinda jibed rolling her eyes. "Two years, Elsa. Those bloodsuckers evaded you for two years. How is good ol' pride after that blow? I hope it isn't still in intensive care."

"Childish as always."

"I could say the same you frigid bitch."

Belinda pushed her body further, now threatening to invade Elsa's personal space just to show she could. The elder, once younger, twin displayed no outward reaction, but her hissing familiar's eyes had turned blood red until the devil finally pulled back.

The maid huffed, squared her shoulder and turned her back toward the old witch, walking toward her niece who was watching everything with wide, astounded eyes.

"I'm going to find Nadia, you don't have to bother anymore." She placed her arm over Marzia's tense shoulders and began to lead her away. "In fact, you can go back to Moscow to the rest of those pompous assholes for all I care."

The elder waited until the door was open to speak again.

"The Bronze Scepter has been made aware of it." The maid stopped in her tracks. "Vagonostroitelniy and Crimson Twilight have also been called. Even Koldovstoretz has investigated the matter. They all dropped the case, every single one of them. Make that what you will."

Belinda's head turned ever so slightly, not to the point of looking back. Marzia's eyes were dashing between the two women confusingly.

"… Shit." That was the entirety of the blonde's reaction before she closed the door behind her.

From her shadows, I swirled around trying to remember what I knew about human magicians and magical organizations. I found out that I've never bothered with the human side of the supernatural all that much.

The house was cold; it makes the dinky little town in the nowhere of Russia colder just by being there. It was like it brought the winter with it.

But within the next hour, it was gone. No trace there was even a house there remained, even the people of the town started to forget there was even _something_ there to begin with.

For the first time in almost two years, the temperature rose, and summer started.

-0-0-0-

The car ride was tense at best. The middle-aged man kept a thigh grip on the steering wheel while he eyed the dark, snowy road ahead, the middle-aged woman on the passage seat behind him kept sending nervous looks to the other, much younger-looking woman beside her. She bit the nail of her thumb while trying to calm herself, but the last few words of the conversation she had just heard kept buzzing on her head until she couldn't keep it in anymore.

"Aunt Belinda, about what mother said. Do you think…"

"I will find her," Belinda said, opening her eyes to show her niece a resolute look. "For what is worth, Marzia I assure you: I will find her and bring her back. Alive."

Marzia, despite having just suffered a hard betrayal, tried to find solace in Belinda's words.

"You can't promise this..." Marzia's husband, a large-size middle-aged man whose face was almost completely hiding behind a bluish, graying beard spoke.

"Vladislav **,** right?" Belinda looked into the rear mirror, where she could see the man's weary eyes. "You chose to stay with my niece through all of this? Most men would run away, not all can handle the more supernatural side of life."

Some glimmer flared back on the dark irises. "Most men are cowards."

Belinda let out a breath, crossing her arms under the larger breasts. "I see… About your statement. Yes, yes I can, I promise you as I promised Marzia, I'll get Nadia back."

The man had more to say, more doubts maybe, but in the end, something about the devil made it all dissolve into a nod.

"We'll take you to the forest tomorrow." His comment made Belinda raise her eyebrow.

"Forest?"

"It's where… Nadia and the vampire were meeting before he took her." Marzia explained, her voice heavy and tired. I don't blame her after the day she had.

"Got it." Belinda said. "… I have to ask… Did you consider the possibility that she went with him willingly?"

The couple hesitated.

"No/Yes." Marzia denied. Vladislav confirmed.

The blonde woman sent a shocked look at her husband. "No… no, how could she? I always warned her about the dangers of the supernatural; she would never do something like this without a reason."

"They were meeting for months, she and the bloodsucker. Artyom told us Marzia, you can't deny there might be something more going on." Vladislav didn't seem to be trying to convince her, he seems to be going through the motions... This sounds like an old argument.

Marzia shook her head, her voice starting to rise. "No, she wouldn't, he must have been bribing her, or threatening her some way… we raised her right." Yep, definitely an old argument.

Belinda laid a hand on her niece's shoulder, "In any case, we will see about that tomorrow."

"Yes." Vsevolod agreed. "Tomorrow… There is also… There is also the matter of Vadim's corpse."

Marzia flinched after she heard that.

Belinda turned her eyes to the dark landscape and the few houses rolling by outside the window. "That's the sacrifice, right? Already took care of it."

The driver stiffened then looked back. "... What do you mean?"

"Don't worry about it, I cleaned up the mess, it won't come to bite you in the ass," Belinda explained still unaware of the looks she was receiving.

"But that's… wrong." Vladislav looked back to the road, his eyes kept dropping to his hand and back. "We… I… I killed him, he was trying to help us, he didn't deserve it but I-"

"Don't dwell on it," Belinda said with her mind still on more important things. "I made some calls, by now people shouldn't even remember he ever existed."

"What!" The driver reacted again, quickly glaring back and to the road again, his breaths were coming in quick bursts. "What do you mean!? Nobody even remem- he was my apprentice! His family owns a bakery near our house, I've known him since he was a lad!"

"Vlad, please." His wife has leaned forward and was patting his shoulders, Belinda just blinked confusedly at the outburst. "Just… Let it go, it's just the way things are, just accept it, please."

"It's not right Marsy." The man didn't cry, he didn't seem like a man that cries easily, but the sob he gave did have something like a deep anger, a deep sadness inside. "People shouldn't just… disappear like that… It's not right."

The rest of the way was spent in silence.

-0-0-0-

Belinda didn't even stop to admire the cozy look of the guest room, she just collapsed on the comfortable looking chair they had there and let out a heavy sigh.

"Well, I certainly didn't expect that to happen," I commented, rising from the shadows like I was in an elevator. "Didn't you say you cut ties with your family?"

"Not all of them,"

"Clearly." I decided on a sufficiently flat wall and pointed at it, a tiny dot of shadow appeared and began to follow my finger as I drew. "You ok?"

"No." She pulled a deep breath. "Elias, early I promised them-"

"Belinda." Good grief this silly woman. "You are the second person I love most in this world. I will not spare any effort in helping you find your niece, no matter if she is dead or alive, I will make sure you fulfill your promise."

"… It might not be this simple, one hint that the Dantalions have some interest in this situation, and there might be questions." True enough, pillar families usually don't get involved with human business, but when they do, a lot of eyes turn in that direction.

"Oh, I'll be very sneaky." I sent the woman a look. "Honestly Belinda, it's like you don't even know me."

She relaxed on the chair, truly relaxing for the first time since she got the news. At least I imagine this is the case because she was quite the pile of nerves when I arrived on her shadow early.

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet." By that point, she must have seen the circle I was drawing on the wall but didn't comment. This was somewhat heartwarming because it showed how much she trusted me; if I found someone drawing circles on my mother's room or something, I'd have ripped their head off. "Now, I'm must confess I'm not very familiar with the human's supernatural organizations. But I believe the last name your undead sister dropped was a magical school correct?"

Belinda chuckled. "Is she really an undead?"

"Her body is more block of ice than human, so she might as well be."

"Hah! Hypocrite!" It felt good to see her smile. Her longs legs crossed attractively, stretching the tight fabric of her leggings- …I should make her wear casual clothes more often. "And yes, Koldovstoretz is a magical school, but it's also one of the biggest conglomerate/research center this side of magical Russia."

It didn't take a full second for me to make the connections, I voiced out loud anyway.

"And one of the biggest magical organizations in Russia... has dropped this case."

"Yeah." Her mood soured again. "And the others are also big names… No matter how she tries to portray it, Elsa pulled a lot of strings for this one."

I wiggled my finger to finish the highly complex set of Babylonic runes before moving to work on another part of the seal. "Not a simple case of vampire snatching then?"

"Elsa would have Nadia back before the weeks' end if it were." Belinda groaned.

"I suppose, we will know tomorrow." With the outer circle complete, I move to the inner square.

"Are you putting up a ward?" Belinda finally asked, sounding thankful. She probably noticed the similarities between this circle and the one I have at the castle.

"After, first we need something to conceal our presence."

Belinda rested her head on her fist. "Not that I'm complaining, but isn't that a bit of an overkill? I mean, I get it if it was a shield, or if we were in a more dangerous area, but I don't think we need something of this grade here."

"Err, yes we do, there was a situation… with mother."

"With…" Belinda trails off, her eyes widened as she realized she, technically, left her duty. "Satan's balls! What happened!? Where is she!? Did she lose control!? She's better not be thinking I abandoned her or something!"

"Calm down! It's nothing like that, it's just something I didn't predict…"

We both looked to the side where a pool of shadows that suddenly rose up without my command.

The shadow stretched out to about a meter in the air before it started taking shape, sprouting thorns and vines, and a few almost-flowers blossomed there and there. When the whole thing started to look like a coil of dark briar crudely shaped like an arm, it gave us a little wave.

"… Elias, what are you doing?"

"It's Mother." I sighed, "She is in the shadow."

Belinda's eyes widened in surprise. "You mean like you do? That's amazing-Ah." She couched over her fist and straightened her back, regarding the shadow projection with the utmost respect. "Congratulations on your success Lady Araneya, I'm overcome with joy."

Several vines of shadow suddenly burst out from the floor and wrapped themselves around Belinda, the thorns didn't even come close to hurting her of course, but the action was so sudden and unexpected that she let out an audible gasp. "My Lady what-Ah!" Now she's been pulled to the floor.

I sighed again. "Patience mother, I'm almost finished with the circle, soon you'll be able to get out and hug her yourself."

The Vines loosened their hold and slithered away from Belinda's body and back to the floor, the occasional silhouette of the briar sea appearing around the walls showed her anticipation.

"Elias," Belinda rubbed the places where the vines had caught her. "What was that? Why she doesn't come out?" She looked at me. "What is happening?"

"Well, I…" Now, how to put it. "I… _did_ something to Mother, and it had an unforeseen consequence."

Belinda looked at me, continued looking, then slowly placed her hand over her face and sighed.

"What did you do? Was it sexual?"

I huffed. "Rude. Why is it that every time I tell you I've done something to mother you always assume it's sexual?"

"Track record." My head maid's blank look was long and hard, there was a giggle from the shadows that only I could hear.

"It's not… inherently sexual…"

She nodded, "So only partially sexual, make sense."

"Only if viewed in a certain way!" I almost pouted right there. How dare she think so low of me!? I always have the best for my mother in mind!

… And it's only _occasionally_ sexual.

"So," Belinda leaned back, finally relaxing after seeing my lack of freak out, She knew I wouldn't be acting like that if it was something truly serious. "What have you done to her that requires such a powerful barrier to hide?"

"You will see… now." I flip my finger and the last line of shadow connected to the whole. The entire circle flashed a soft white light before completely disappearing. To the outside, this room and its immediately the surrounding areas became utterly unscry-able and undetectable for any and every supernatural means that isn't at least Satan-grade. "There you go mother, you can come out now."

And come out she did, raising from the shadows with her arms raised like a dancer, her bombastic body barely hidden by a modest little sundress that stopped mid-thigh and produced a mouth-watering silhouette for the enjoyment of the world. Anyone looking wouldn't be able to look away, but Belinda and I, who were used to it, could drink the visage while retaining the higher functions of our brains.

It was nothing out of the ordinary, but then again, mother's changes weren't on the outside, they were much deeper.

Belinda reacted accordingly.

"Wh…at…" She managed to gasp, while her body was compressed on the chair she was sitting. She could barely hold up her head without a struggle. "La... dy…"

I can only imagine what she must be feeling right now; a presence so great and so heavy that almost seems to have its own gravity, a monolith of pure power blasting just before you, making you intimately aware of your own insignificance in face of the universe. For a difference of power this great, there are no tricks, no strategies, no hopes, it just exists and _crushes_ you with the weight of its monumental existence.

… No, I can imagine what it must feel like. I experienced once before.

When I looked into Infinity, all those years ago.

"Breathe, it's just a power leak, she is having trouble controlling it." I rubbed the tense muscles of my beautiful maid's back. "You've been a middle-class Devil before, right? What did you do when a high-class one decided to show off their power?"

Belinda stifled and flared up her own energy. The surge sent a subconscious message to her devil instincts that told her that she _wasn't_ completely defenseless against the gigantic threat in the room and that she _wasn't_ going to drop dead if it looked in her direction. Only then she could breathe again.

Seeing my maid compose herself, I continued.

"I have claimed mother for my peerage, using a modified evil piece I created myself." A roaring success, by the way, the intensity of the power boost is equivalent to a _King Piece's_ , without the backlash of continuous use. "Mother's demonic energy, speed, strength, and endurance all jumped several levels."

And that's why she is a beacon of power that brings down lesser devils just by existing. She is not used to this new amount of energy, having been literally injected with it rather than grow it naturally. So she is having trouble holding it back, and by consequence is making everybody close to her feel as if one of the Underworld's top dogs wants their head on a plate.

That's why I and others high powered devils usually don't relax the hold on our power, hard to interact with everyone weaker than yourself if you constantly pressuring them into death or unconsciousness with your presence alone.

"That makes… no sense." Belinda panted; her face marked by beads of sweat. "An evil piece shouldn't have…" She blinked, "Wait, _modified_ evil piece!? Peerage!? Elias what the hell happened while I was gone!?"

 _"Carpet~~!"_

"A-And now she is possessed again, what the hell!?"

What my maid is referring to, is the fact that Mother took a single step forward and apparently decided that the carpet feels really nice against her naked foot, so now she is rolling on it.

"Ah, she is not possessed. What you're seeing here is the never-seen-before side-effect of suddenly gaining astronomical amounts of power. Mother is kind of a case study for now at least before her body grows accustomed to it… she's good in the shadows though."

My giggling mother rolled sideward and raised her upper body to us, a messy vision if this were anyone else but incredibly sexy because it's Mother. Vast cleavage aside, we managed to have a clear look at her eyes, or more precisely, the state of her pupils.

"Dear Satan, she's high!" Belinda gasped.

"Yeah, I think so too. Funny isn't it?"

"Linda~"

A mother-shaped missile hit my maid and knocked her and the chair down.

"Where were you Belinda?~" Mother says with a cute-ish voice of wavering pitch while she rubbed her cheek against Belinda's. "Everything was sooo nice- but then you were gone, I was on top of the world you know!? Ely was doing me in the ass! But then- But then you're goooone aaww!"

"Lady-I don't-wait a second please!"

It was funny to see Belinda struggling to deal with 'Lady Araneya' when she could deal with 'Bella' quite easily, there's even a tragic element to it. But I didn't want to simply put cow ears on mother to help Belinda's circumstance, she got to accept there isn't much separating the kind, high-born lady from the hyperactive sexual deviant.

Plus, it has been a long, and emotionally charged day for her, my maid needs a bit of Araneya's cuddles. In fact, she needed all the cuddles.

"WaitWaitWait not there this really isn't a good time to-Ahh Elias please help-DON'T JUST JOIN IN!"

"YAY Ely's here! _Threesome time~!_

-0-0-0-

As it was told and carved in the stone of reality; all good things must end eventually. And as much as mine and my mother's presence has brought some levity to Belinda, the reality of the situation set in once again on the next day, with Vladislav giving us a ride to the forest where his daughter was meeting the vampire.

Giving _Belinda_ a ride I mean, Mother and I stayed in the shadows. This isn't another Kuoh situation where I had a clear idea of the players in the city; I don't know this place, I don't know who is watching and more importantly, I hadn't had time to prepare. So, me and Mother will have to be extra careful, otherwise, the nosy supernatural players might ask themselves what Pillar devils are wandering around in the ass end of the human world.

Vladislav looked jittery, the narrow window to his eyes between his beard and hair looked darker than yesterday, painted by deep eyeshadows. His hands thumping wheel as he occasionally tightened his grip. His glassed eyes were staring fixedly at the snowy road.

He is a normal human. Even though he had gotten familiar with the supernatural over this last few years, I got a feeling he is the kind of person that isn't comfortable with things that are unknown to them, things that might shake their perception of the world and make the other things they always knew to be truth, suddenly not. So I can't imagine it might be easy for him to process the fact he had partaken in an unholy ritual that required him to brutally tear apart someone he cared about with the intent of summoning a Devil. And that the ritual actually _worked_.

Not many people could deal with things like that; his wife was one of them, apparently. She tried to come with us but she was such a mess that Belinda had insisted she stay instead.

The car stopped on the side of a road, just outside the city, it didn't take that long to get there, with the town being so tiny and all. In fact, the only reason for the ride was to escape the cold and snow, even though there was considerably less of it than yesterday. Meteorologists around these parts must be scratching their heads.

"That's far as I can go without those fuckers bothering us."

"The magicians , right?" Belinda not really asked. According with our human guide, the help Belinda's witch sister brought decided that the forest should be quarantined until further orders, and apparently these 'further orders' were so further that they still here even after their organization dropped the case.

Looking ahead in the shadows… I can't blame them.

"How many are there?" Belinda asked as she opened the door.

"… 'round twenty, I think, I never counted." Vladislav glanced at his grand-aunt-in-law as she moved past his window. He opens it and leaned his head outside. "You're not going to kill them, right?"

Belinda paused, the wind rustling her fur-trimmed coat. She wore it mostly out of politeness, as we were used to the Dantalion's winter, which made every other type of winter feel nice and pleasant. "I will incapacitate them and make sure they don't remember."

The man chewed, not knowing where to go from there. "Er, good… I'm sorry, it's just… It's been so much-"

"Thank you." Belinda interrupted; she looked back with a grateful smile. "For taking care of Marzia… and for sticking with her. You can leave the rest to me now."

The man didn't say anything, there was nothing more to be said, he just nodded, closed the window and drove away.

Belinda let out a misty breath, inserting her hands into her cloak's pockets. "How bad is it, Elias?"

"Bad," I whisper into her mind. "It's distorting the shadows."

"Damn."

I echoed her sentiment; over the years I found that while there are some non-Dantalion beings that could _perceive_ the shadows, very few could really _affect it._

And in the forest a short distance ahead, shadows are not only affected, but twisted out of shape. So much so that everything was a big confusing mess to my shadow senses. I could make sense of the edges, and a bit going inside, but the center was a mystery.

I felt mother's feeble influence wash over mine, trying to imitate me and meld her perception with the surrounding darkness of the surface, probably thinking she could handle it better in her current state than with her bodily senses clouding everything. She was right, of course, but it doesn't mean it was easy or come naturally. Still, she managed about a mile radius, which was better than me when I first started, when I was about a week old.

I patted her metashadical head and she let out the equivalent of a happy squeal as a response.

It was strange having another presence in my shadow world, not the _bad_ kind of weird, but it is kinda a shame that I basically lost the only place I could have full privacy.

I can muse about this later; right now I have to concentrate.

Belinda's boots crunched the slight cover of snow on the center of the road, there was no need to walk on the side of it, nobody was coming here. Besides, there is a lot more snow here.

"How many magicians ?" The thought was directed towards me.

I scanned the wide circular perimeter they had set, along with the barrier they had raised. It didn't cover the whole forest, just the important parts. "Fifty-eight, but, err, they won't be a problem."

"They are going to be, believe me. I know how soviet magicians treat devils." She huffed another misty breath; the blush of cold on her nose was quite charming. "Unless you're talking about their capabilities, in that case, I'm inclined to agree."

"Err, no, it's just…" I tried to put into it words… but it was one of those things that are so edgy and so anime you'd have to see it with your own eyes, "You'll see."

The maid frowned, "Not the time for non-answers Elias."

"No, really, you'll see, the border of the forest is right there. Look up, you should be able to see it by now."

She did, and didn't insist anymore, just narrowed her eyes and tried to make sense of it while she approached.

All the Fifty-eight magicians , who are dressed like a wizardry-themed version of the men-in-black, were lying unconscious in a pile of bodies, while a teenager sat on the peak.

To his credit though, he did have the right image and attitude for the dark image he wanted to convey. With pitch-black clothes under a dark trench coat all over a wiry body that was a lot more toned than it looked and a face locked in a cold expression of someone who means business; his sharp features, piercing eyes centered in deep eyeshadows and cheap cigar actually helped to sell that fact.

I'm sure he would look quite impressive if this was an anime, or he was dealing with the canon cast of this word, but as things stand, he was dealing with me, who was a paranoid and very observant motherfucker who liked to analyze everything and everyone I put my eyes own, something that, to his further bad luck, had been rubbing on Belinda and even Mother.

To our eyes, it was obvious that he was a normal-ass kid who was a bit more athletic than usual and was trying to hide his meager magical potential under layers and layers of hidden magical. That, and while he was able to take down more than fifty trained mage with some method that didn't involve fighting – He probably wanted us to think the contrary, but it was _so_ obvious - he also took the time to drag their prone bodies from their posts and organize them into a pile just for the sake of looking more badass.

It would be better if he left them where they were and met us alone instead, the lack of any resistance from the mage would be enough to send a message. Now the image of this kid waking up before the sun rose to drag the bodies through the snow just to make 'cool' impression was preventing that very objective from happening.

Now, I don't disapprove of hammy presentations; I hang out with Riser for fuck's sake. But if you're incapable of making it appear seamless, it's better not to bother at all.

"Who are you?" Belinda asked immediately. She wasn't in the mood for dramatic staredowns.

"Someone who can help you."

Pff… I really don't think he can.

"Yeah, I'm not going to play this game kid, you gonna tell me who you are and why should I care right now."

He pulled away the cigar from his lips and let out a long stream of smoke.

"This forest isn't kind to those unfamiliar with its dangers." He said in a slow, enunciating tone. "You will need a guide."

I whisper a suggestion on Belinda's mind before her annoyance became anger.

"Right, so you tell me who you are, or you will be named Shadow, the grumpy Hedgehog." No matter who you are or what kind of mood you're trying to set, if you're dealing with people who don't need you and you failed to make an impression on them, you're gonna fail.

Teenagers are creatures of fragile self-esteem; none would tolerate being called by that, especially not dark, brooding ones who are in a constant fight against the unfair world.

The boy frowned, and then says in his best broody Tarzan impression. "Artyom."

Pieces fell into place immediately.

"Ah." Belinda relaxed, swaying her hips to the side and letting her lips form a quasi-cocky smile. "So, _you're_ my elusive new step-grandson, your mother has complained about you yesterday, you know."

"That's what she does." He lazed forward and finally dropped from the pile of prone bodies. "And you're my devil relative, I reckon."

My maid gestured to the pile with her chin. "How did you do that?"

He looked at it and instead of going with an outlandish history like I thought he would, he came out with the truth. "I know where they keep their food storage."

Normal ass sleeping drugs… Efficient.

Belinda made a sound with her throat, "Heh, nice to meet you kid but you better be going, I have work to do."

"The name's Artyom," He narrowed his eyes. "Didn't you hear me? This forest isn't someplace you can just walk in. If you go inside blind, you're gonna get lost and die."

"Oh, believe me, kid, I'm confident in my ability to stay alive."

"So did the magicians , and they lost so many that they don't visit the mansion without my help anymore." The teen deadpanned.

"I think your parents would have commented if I needed you to take me there." Said Belinda, roaming the tree line front produced by the barrier around the place.

Artyom scoffed. "Like they knew I was talking to them."

"Ehhh." Belinda trail off knowingly in a tone that would enrage any teenager, but considering this was _Belinda_ , the boy's hormones spoke louder than his emotions, so he almost blushed before the gorgeous face and charming song.

To his credit though, he managed to turn away before his stare truly became awkward. "Whatever. Look, you want to go to the mansion or not? The sooner we go, the sooner we can get to finding Nadia." There is more emotion on that last statement than I would have expected.

"Yeah, no kid." The teen glared. "Look, I don't know you enough to care about what secrets you've been keeping from your parents, so as long as you don't hurt anyone, we're golden. But I'm not going to put Marzia's second kid in danger, especially not when I'm trying to find the first one."

"Do you even know what's in there!? I've _been_ to the forest before you know, even to the damn mansion. There is no one around who knows the areas as well as me!" The boy fumed. "I'm offering you _help_. Hopefully you can do a better job than those fucking _losers_ there, so _shut up_ and follow me."

I believe he was keeping this inside for quite some time.

It made no difference, though.

Artyom almost growled when he noticed Belinda wasn't in fact following him. What? Did he think that would work? What does he think this is, a movie?

"Didn't you hear what I say!?"

"Yes, now you hear me." Belinda began, "I'm stronger than my sister, I guarantee you that I'm stronger than all the magicians you've met, and I'm probably the second strongest thing in this side of Russian right now. _I can take care of myself_." There was a suggestion on her voice; just enough to trigger some deep instinct on the boy, something to remind him what he was dealing with hasn't been human for a very long time. "You right, I don't know what's in there, what dwells inside, or even how to get into the mansion, but you know what? It doesn't _matter_. The magicians might have needed your guidance, but I intend to make a beeline to the mansion going _through_ whatever obstacle I stumble in the way and believe me, boy, you won't be able to keep up with the speed I intend to go."

She might be saying that but it didn't change the fact the shadows are twisted for some reason; something dangerous was happening there, I don't know how much, but dangerous enough to affect a metaphysical dimension of matter that only the Dantalions and really esoteric shit are able too. It was comforting to hear that the mansion _could_ be reached by walking, and, if what Artyom implied was correct, that even an average human could do it. I never say something will be a piece of cake, but I have total confidence that we could deal with whatever is going on inside.

The boy turned dark and broody again, not that he'd ever ceased to of course, but now he was even darker and broodier. He matched Belinda firm stare with one of his own.

" _'I can take care of myself,'_ do you know how many times I heard this?" Artyom growled. "Fine then, and how about this damn barrier, dear old frigid bitch-granny raise it first, then every magic fucker that came about reinforce it afterward, it's pretty much impregnable if you don't know the way to pass it." He let the, 'And I'm the only awaken person that knows it!' in the air.

Belinda smiled and showed me that her new Breeder essence had integrated nicely to her soul by making the hormonal boy's thoughts stir to a brief halt just by the sight. Pretty soon she was going to be like me and mother, who could turn an entire street into brain dead zombies if we had a good day and show it.

"I'm glad you asked." _'Elias'_ She called in her mind, and I was more than happy to comply.

A mass of two-dimensional shadows rose from the ground around Belinda, and enveloped her body in a large, dark bubble, before sinking neatly into the ground like it had suddenly opened up. Leaving a blinking teenager alone, and utterly confused behind.

I have been told that traveling through the shadows as a non-Dantalion feels like being flush through a long, dark tube with an underlayer of slithering noises blasting quietly on your ears. But that's because every time I bring someone in here, I actively manipulate the shadows around the person to become damp and mutter. Without this, their mind would implode trying to make sense of what was happening around them.

As I move Belinda's prone and tensed form, Mother followed behind, playing close attention to what I was doing so she could reproduce it someday. Though, I will have her start with animals, of course.

I pushed my maid out just inside the edge of the barrier, she let out a relieved breath for the rush of cold, but flesh and non-shadowy air.

That was about the only relief she felt.

The forest ahead was what one would expect for a very dark, very snowy forest. The trees were depleted of any vegetation and stood so close together that they had an almost physical kind of darkness in the gaps between. The whiteness on the snowy ground was so deep that it almost seemed to shine, contrasting sharply with the dark, almost black wood projecting from it, and it was utterly immaculate too, no tracks from humans, animals or whatever, just an endless stretch of snow that housed the jagged trees and gave the place an almost picturesque look of horror. So far, to be honest, it looked like home, even down to the eerie silence and the ever-present impression that you are being watched and something could jump out of the dark at any moment.

But that was not what made Belinda so restless.

There is an undeniable feeling of _wrongness_ on this place, like seeing a shape that wasn't supposed to be, or an angle that wasn't supposed to exist, the whole place was like a picture drawn in colors that were just similar enough for you to name it, but different enough for you to doubt yourself, it was very… _unnerving._

"Okay… forest in the sky, can't say I've seen anything like it?" Belinda commented.

What?

"What are you talking about?" I questioned, stirring my perception over the area. Even Mother was cutely confused by the statement. "There is just a stretch of forests. It's twisted yeah, but it isn't in the sky."

Belinda considered my words carefully.

"Then… we aren't seeing the same thing, Elias." She concluded.

And I… have to take a look.

On the next second, I was out of the shadows and beside Belinda, staring at the impossible forest with my own eyes.

… The forest wasn't in the sky… there is simply _no sky_ , only _more forest_. In every direction, everywhere and anywhere we looked, there was only forest.

My breath started to accelerate before I gripped the fabric of the black and silver sweater I was wearing and calmed down.

My power had failed, and not just any power, a power so fundamental, so inherit to myself that it had slipped my mind until this very moment because it long ceased to be a power and had become the natural way for me to see the world.

Now, I'm seeing with my own eyes, and my shadow is seeing something completely different.

Twisted, twisted, the world is twisted.

"Elias, are you alright?"

I snapped my head at my maid. Everything back under control. "Perfectly." I smiled. Twisted world? Bring it on. "There's supposed to be a mansion somewhere around here, right?"

"That's what Marzia said." Belinda rolled her shoulders and gave a sweeping look to the perimeter. "But I can't see shit, and this place is messing with my senses."

As if premeditated, both our growing headaches spiked, it only made Belinda groan though.

"Well, I think-"

 _"Do not look to the fucking horizon!"_ A voice called behind us.

And there came Artyom, struggling against the snow, but not as much as he should, I noticed; where most humans would be waist-deep in the stuff, he was only knee-deep. Behind him, I saw… not a hole in the barrier per se, but an opening that was somehow scripted into the core circle and was disappearing without damaging the original format. This was a particularly impressive feat because the circle was nowhere close.

I followed the lingering magical thread to the front pocket of his edgily torn cloak, to an item that, according to my senses, was in the form of a quill pen with a large feather.

Interesting, so not all of his trinkets were useless.

"The fucking is wrong with you!? I told you this isn't a place you could just walk…"

He blinked.

I blinked.

He blushed.

"And w-who the hell is this!?"

Belinda and I looked at each other. This was going to be a bit more complicated than we thought.

* * *

A/n: Ok I believe(And fear) this chapter will disappoint many people who wanted plot progression and I really have no excuse, the initial plan was to wrap out the entire first part of this arc, this Russian part, in this chapter, but as you can see I stopped right in the beginning of the good part, honestly, that is because this chapter was getting hard to put into words, I was fighting dozen of wandering ideas that wanted to be putted into the paper but I promised to myself to not post anything before dropping this chapter, was(and am) dealing with some heavy shit in real life and is sucking away my energy and motivation, all while the chapter went on and on until eventually it started to weigh on me, by the 'end scene', when I had to rework some things and realized it would end up way bigger than I though, I just _had_ to drop it to have some relief.

So yeah the final chapter ended up with almost no plot progression, but at least it gave me some feeling of closure so I can work on other things (Including new chapter of this story) with a lighter head however, I do feel bad for everyone that has been waiting all this time, so I won't shrug my shoulders and say it could help it, I can't drop the next chapter immediately but I will work on it sooner than what I was planned, so I can show you some meaningful plot procession.

Last thing, I don't like to say anything but I'm really feeling guilty for leave you wanting for so long, so I can at least tell what is on story, with no spoilers obviously, just some vague statements about the future.

In this arc:

Cannon characters will appear and play a role, and not mirror canon characters like Kalawarner or Cleria, _major_ canon characters that Elias will have to deal with (And they will have to deal with Elias)

 _Strong_ enemies are coming.

And lastly, barring one of maybe two chapter after it, _this arc is the last one before canon._


	25. Chapter 20

Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back at QQ forum.

Chapter 20

* * *

The sturdy soles of my boots met the pristine field of snow, disturbing it in what appeared to be the first time in a long while. They rose up to my knee as my foot sank into its cold depths.

Weird; my snow-walking spell doesn't appear to be working. I should be standing straight on top of this like an Elf from Lord of the Rings or Mexico, yet the snow is swallowing me up to my knees with each step instead.

"Watch the fuck out!"

Ah yes, there was a human with us.

"Don't just stand there staring the snow like a freak! We're being attacked!" Artyom puts himself between me and a leaping rabbit. The thick layer of snow weighing heavily on his movements. The muzzle of his enchanted airsoft gun glowed red hot as he fires compressed energy pebbles that exploded on impact. _"Move!"_

"I'm surveying the terrain," I explained. "There is something weird about it."

My magic eye is tingling, is what I meant.

"You think!?" He shouted, snapping his head towards me, and then he promptly blushed and turned away.

"Yiiiiiiiiii!" The rabbit's leftover parts let out a vicious hiss as they grew grotesque, fleshy tendrils, and began to connect themselves back together.

Now, _that's_ something promising to watch.

"FUCK! You people are crazy!" He shouted, laying more explosive pebbles at the hissing pile of flesh. "Why the fuck did you deviate from the route!? I told you it would be safer!"

"And I told you I needed to see some things. Now, can you please stop shooting? You're making it harder for me to analyze the specimen." I said.

"What!?" He was so shocked that he stopped- Hm? Even the tiny bits are trying to merge back together. That's an inspiring level of regeneration right there. "You're _sightseeing_? This isn't a tourist spot you know!?- _Don't go near it!"_

"Oh, relax." I smiled, making him blush again as a result. "We're used to dealing monsters in a forest. You should see what we have back home."

"What!?"

Snow exploded near us, folding vertically like a great white wall before breaking apart as charred little rabbit bodies began to rain.

The thick snow was proving to be an annoying obstacle to Belinda's movements. They're providing more resistance than expected, but she had adjusted to it, and now each of her steps made them erupt. She was actively using this to blind her little opponents even before she got annoyed with their persistence and summoned her armored maid dress from a jewel on her wrist. The armor came with the added advantage of having her six rapiers connected to it, which resulted in the rapid discovery that these creatures' healing factor was vulnerable to flames.

The beautiful maid gracefully drew soft, gentle lines on the surviving rabbits with the glowing red blade of the _Fiery Lover_ as they leaped to attack her, making them all unravel into burning jigsaw bits and fly around her form like glowing fireflies. She finished by artistically impaling the last one and, with a little more fanfare than usual, vaporized it to ash.

No grotesque, healing tendrils for those rabbits, I guess.

"Flashy. Are you showing off for your new Grandnephew-in-law?" Heh, still kinda funny.

"Hardy." Hah! She totally is. "Do you have what you need? We are losing time."

"One sec," I said, pulling up my sleeves and walking forward in the snow.

"Did you just bring down a rabbit swarm on your own!?" I heard Artyom asking behind me as I approached the regenerating bits of the last rabbit.

Well, it was less 'rabbit' and more 'grotesque abomination' now, but it had a rabbit-like head, and some patches of fluffy white fur along it's twisting flesh.

"HIIIIIII!" It hissed again and regenerated its legs enough to leap toward my face.

I grabbed it mid-air and watched its head busting open like an alien flower full of crooked fangs and coil unnaturally along my wrist, leaving red scratch marks on my Touki-cultivated skin.

I ignored the shadows pulsing angrily around me and focused on the creature, watching as the parts not contributing to the wrist assault shifted into a familiar rabbit bottom, while the parts that did turn more and more into a growing amalgamation of teeth and black flesh.

My eyes… gleamed, and continued to do so for the full minute that I let the creature try to break my flesh or my hold.

Finally, I sighed.

 **Worthless.**

The creature _imploded_ in a faint green afterglow. That made me blink; I hadn't expected such a violent reaction.

Then, for a brief moment, the area around my hand _glitched_ before snapping back to reality.

Hm…

"Ah, shit!"

I turn to see what the commotion was and saw Belinda and Artyom facing what appears to be an actual _swarm_ this time.

"Wait, what are bees doing in a snowy forest?" I let out this dumb question out loud in a moment of surprise. Of course, there would be monstrous bees in the magical murder forest.

Note to self; Get bees for the Dantalion's forest.

Artyom retrieved two metal cylinders from his coat; he threw them at the approaching cloud, and with a dry popping noise, a purple smoke began to spill from them. Whatever the smoke was, it affected the cohesion of the swarm and stopped its approach momentarily.

"Ok, no more joking around, we have to move!" There was a weight of authority on Artyom's voice that wasn't there before. Until now, he's been dealing with us with the annoying exasperation of a fed-up tourist guide and has been dealing with the creatures with the mechanical efficiency of a veteran that knew the danger but was used to dealing with it. The bees, though, scared him enough to take charge. "You, Devil lady, jump up to the upside-down trees and cover our back! You, girl, with me! We have to lose them first before we can get to the safe route!"

G... Girl!? What is Leviathan's name he is on about!? Is he blind or something!? How could he confuse _me_ for a girl!?

We were about to move, but then, suddenly, our problem disappeared.

And by disappeared; I meant an enormous shadow briar suddenly exploded from beneath the swarm and angrily consumed them, and part of the sea of snowy trees around, into eternal darkness.

A heavy silence descended upon us as we watched the thorny shadows slowly crawl back to their usual shape, leaving a terrain of missing forest behind.

"Shit," Belinda said as soon as the trees snapped back in place, filling the gap of the missing forest. "This is more troublesome than I thought."

"…Yeah." I agree, musing on what I managed to grasp with my magical eyes.

"Ok." Artyom let out a slow, misty breath. "What was that?" He asked, eyes not leaving the spot the shadows had surged.

"My mother,"

He looked at me with blank, wide eyes and hunched shoulders.

I'm glad his first exposure to devils is being an interesting one.

-0-0-0-

Artyom's first 'safe haven' was a cocoon of wood and snow that had somehow formed _inside_ one of the forest's weird angles. We could slide into it from a hole in the ceiling and apparently stay out of reach from most of those creatures for the night.

We lit up a fire for the human's sake, and for a bit of our own comfort; waking up covered in snow isn't a particularly pleasant experience even to devils used to the white wastes of the Dantalion's region.

Artyom dropped himself by the fire, having finish reinforcing the entrance and setting his tent. He was the only one of us with a tent.

Up till now, he'd been trying to deal with us, and the unfamiliar changes we brought. This must be the first time he interacted with creatures not only different from humans but _beyond_ humans. We managed to traverse the forest differently than any other group he'd ever led, more casually for sure; the sheer difference in our power made it so the forest was an annoying obstacle to us rather than life-threatening one, and that must be throwing him out of the loop. He'd probably grow up with the idea that this forest was a thing of nightmares.

But the period of silence as we let him work must have helped him regain some focus. He was certainly acting much more controlled now.

"Alright, I held on for long enough. Who are you?" He looked at me.

"So bold." I smiled… Hm, looks like he is not going to blush as easy anymore, can't do shit about his unconscious bodily reaction though. "I'm Elias Dantalion. Charmed."

"Right…" He was going to continue, but then redirected his train of thought. "Dantalion, that's Ars Goetia's…" His eyes widened. "That's one of the Devils' ruling families!"

"Good to see devil lore is prevalent even in this isolated part of the human world," I commented. But it isn't; this knowledge indicates the kid has connections.

"What the hell is someone like you doing here?" He asked. Then, without letting me out of his field of vision, he turned to Belinda. "Is he your master or something?"

She searched for an answer for a second, then said. "He's my employer. Let's leave it at that."

Because I'm also her master, crush, lover, son of the woman she's in love with, close friend, pseudo-kinda of son, pupil, and a lot of other things that would mark or relationship as a complete and utter clusterfuck if we were humans. But as we are badass devils, we made it work.

"Where did you get those guns?" I asked, wanting another glimpse of the elegant enchantment in them. Too many unnecessary scripts around the core, but exquisite.

Artyom frowned, the shifting light of the fire making the shadow on his face dance. "I'm asking the questions here."

"Is this an interrogation?" I smiled. How precious.

"Those are the Bronze Specter's work," Belinda answered for him. "How did you manage to get that?"

I raised my eyebrow at my maid; she was quick to catch that and elaborated. "Bronze Specter is a Russian Archmagician. She's been around for a while. Is famous for her wanderlust and distaste for magical organizations. She is also one of the best artificers in the human world."

Artificers, she said that word in the devil language, the lowborn version of it, to not make the present human's ears bleed.

Artificers are a step above mere enchanters. They not only enchant the piece of work but build it from scratch to be a magical item in the first place.

So the enchantment I've seen on his guns is a Build in Source, a human-made one at that. Explains the lines.

Belinda turned to her nephew again, "I ask again. How did you manage to get those guns?"

Not only the guns. I recalled the nifty feather pen he used to get in the barrier.

The teenager looked grumpy for our unwillingness to play by his tune. Perhaps he intended to look dark and dangerous, and I'm sure it would work on other humans, but to us, he looked grumpy.

"She was my master."

"Bull." Belinda interrupted instantly. "That woman isn't in the condition to teach anybody. I honestly believe something is wrong with her head."

Artyom glared her. "You know her?"

"We fought together on Stalingrad."

The human blinked at the sudden historical remark, then frowned.

"Alright, I followed her around, watched as she worked, and grabbed some of the things that fell from her backpack."

That made Belinda blink. "She _still_ carrying around that thing." She groaned, massaging her temples.

"Care to share?" I asked.

"She has that." Belinda tried to gesticulate. "Stupidly large backpack filled to the brim with the magical items she makes. Random shit is always falling from it, but she just keeps walking, abandoning the thing there like it has no value. It's… slightly unnerving, and kinda irritating." The maid stares at the distance, her eyes twitching a bit. "Each time she crosses a big city is a magical pandemonium; master grade magical items in the hands of normal people, supernatural groups waging war to get to the fallen items first, weird magical effects going off in wide populated areas," She pulls a long breath to wrestle down the beginning of a wrath urge. "She almost blew up Moscow one time she tripped and spilled almost everything she had."

"...Sounds like a character," I said after some processing, meaning every word. Why does every powerful individual in this world have some stupidly weird quirks? I mean; Leviathan and her sister stalker thing, Lucifer and his creepy nice guy act, Beelzebub with his Beelzebub-ness and… me and my motherfuckery and voyeurism tendencies and- you know what? I'll stop now.

"Right… so if a big shot like her got involved, why this case isn't solved?"

And that is the big question.

"Artyom." Belinda began after a long pause. "What happened here?"

Because as much as Marzia and her husband tried to help, they were only normal humans, Artyom, however, got involved with the magical aspect of the situation.

The kid didn't respond immediately; he sat there with an unreadable expression on his face and tended to the fire. He projected an air of teenager gloominess, and for the first time, I didn't give him shit for it, just waited until he was ready.

Eventually, he opened his mouth.

"My mom told you how Nadia was seduced by the vampire, how he made her come to the mansion where she disappeared, right?" At our nods, he continued. "There is a lot more to it than that."

"Nadia has always been obsessed with magic, she… She was just a little kid when her mother married my dad. I thought it was one of those childish fantasies. I was barely out of those myself back then."

"But she could _do_ magic. At least was what I thought. Now, I know it was a Sacred Gear." We both perked up on that, even Belinda. She didn't know?

Artyom noticed our reaction and tapped a finger on his forehead. "She could manifest a metal disk similar to an eye in the middle of her forehead." He explained. "Trapped people in illusions usually about something horrible… she was very gung-ho about it too." He murmured the last part.

I've memorized seven different Sacred Gear catalogs, including a few not available to the public, so with those characteristics, it was easy to simmer down the list until…

"Dagon's Trickery. Able to lock a target in an illusion of what they fear the most or a pre-crafted illusion of the choice of the wielder for a bigger magical input." I said. And damn…

Dagon's Trickery is one of the Sacred Gears of the Dagon's 'set', together with the Dagon's Resolve and Dagon's Desire, they are not quite at Longinus level but they are easily up the highest tier of Sacred Gears, to find one there is…

"Is that what it's called?" Artyom shook his head. "Anyway, she used that thing on people that bullied her, or just on people that she didn't like, always taking only enough care to not be caught. Thinking back, I believe she wanted to draw attention to herself, maybe to meet someone in our city who was like her, or someone how could teach her what she wanted."

"And she did," Belinda concluded; she looked… agitated by this knowledge.

"Yeah." The fire reflected Artyom's dark look. "He was disguised as a British tourist, which by itself was suspicious as hell given there is nothing in our village worth the attention of a tourist. He walked around like he owned the place, always at night or on cloudy days, always with one or two different girls on his arms. In the span of a week, he had charmed the entire population of the village, so everyone was gushing over him."

"And so did Nadia." Belinda guessed, but Artyom shook his head.

"The charm didn't work on her. I don't know if it was because of something she did or if he left her out on purpose. But he didn't need too." He drew a breath, his hands tightening into a fist. "The first time I saw them walking together into this forest was when I left school early to stalk the vampire; he was a hero to my little charmed mind then, I wanted him to be my big brother, hell, I wanted him to be my _dad!_ " He practically growled that admission out. "I was confused when I saw him and little Nadia walking into the forest hand in hand, and jealous as hell. I went in to follow them only to exit the forest in the same place soon after."

He had to take a moment to compose himself; looks like the memory hit several nerves.

"Nadia came out alone when night came, I was freezing my balls off when I confronted her. I don't remember what I said, but it was enough for her to trap me in an illusion where several crows ate my intestine." Belinda let out a shocked 'what' at that. I just raised my eyebrow. "Yeah, quite the experience for a kid, really builds up character. But more importantly; it shocked me enough to knock the charm out of my mind, then I realize something was wrong about that guy."

His mouth thinned into a line. "The following years, nothing happened in my end." At our continuos stares, he explained. "I was fucking useless, alright! Nadia kept meeting the vampire. I kept trying to stop her and fail miserably each time. Every time I tried bringing an adult in on the manner, they just commented about Nadia was a wicked girl, and how they hoped good, honest Mr. Kullen would be a good influence on her!" He spat on the side. "Guy could have sucked the city's mayor dry in the middle of a crowded street and get away with it back then."

Yeahhh, normal humans don't fare well against most supernatural creatures. A human village in the middle of nowhere with no magical protection? Even a thrash tier vampire would be king.

"Then what?" Belinda insisted firmly, making the kid frown in response.

"Look, if you want me to tell you how the forest became like that, or what happened to Nadia I can't do that, I can only tell you what I know." He waved her off and continued with a slightly peeved look on his face. "Leading up to the day it happened, I remember Nadia going into the forest and not coming back; it was actually the first time that happened. I remember having panicking pretty hard over it."

"Panicking because she didn't come back. No, even before, you trying to stop her going in…" I commented.

"Yeah, I just said that. What it's your point?"

"She bullied you, didn't she, with her illusions?" The kid had a good poker face, but I had good eyes. "Why go that far for her?"

"You're kidding, right? She is my goddamn little sister!" The kid heaved; he even seems to be struggling to not jump on my throat. "I don't know how you fucking devils do things, but family _matters_ around here."

"You've misunderstood me." I gave him a sweet smile; it threw him off balance like does to so many others. "I wasn't about to belittle your effort, in fact, I was-"

"Elias, _please_." Belinda interrupted. "Can you… not, just this once. Let's keep things on track."

…I

I didn't know what to say…

"Err, right, sorry…" My maid lowered her head in a silent apology, then turn to her nephew.

"Artyom, please continue."

He gave us a look.

"Whatever. Anyway, I panicked and tried to get my mother to listen to me, was pretty close, too. If it wasn't for the illusions…"

"Charm." I corrected, but he shook his head.

"Thought so too, but later I found out she was never under the Vampire's charm, she was under Nadia-"

" _What!?"_ Belinda cut in, her loud tone reverberating across the still air of the safe haven. "Nadia used her Sacred Gear on Marzian!? She would never-"

"She would, and she _did!"_ Artyom growled. "Please spare me for that 'she would never' bullshit. I got enough of that over the years."

I saw Belinda tremble, struggling against something, but in the end, she sat back.

The brief silence stretched into a minute, broken only by the flickering of the fire.

"Nadia kept mom on an illusion the whole time, a simple one where she didn't notice the vampire's presence." He explained without any interruptions this time. "I think it was because mom was immune to the charm like she was. I guess we'll never know for sure until we ask her."

He leaned in toward the warmth of the flames, "Three days later and I managed to enter the forest for the first time in years, and because I was a little kid that didn't know any better, I immediately made a beeline to the mansion that I suddenly remembered it was there. But the area around the mansion, well…" He gestured to the forest outside.

I rubbed my chin. "Only the area around the mansion?"

"It expanded since then. Took a while for the guys frigid bitch-granny called to find a way to contain it.

I took over. "And I imagine you stayed close to the magical proceedings, shadowing every distinct magician or representative of famous magical organizations as they worked, offering to guide them through this twisted forest you have seen grown, staying close, observing, learning…"

He shrugged but didn't deny anything.

"The mansion, had you ever been inside?" Belinda asked. Artyom frowned and shook his head. "Had anyone?"

"Almost everyone. I _can_ get you there." He insisted. "… Some never get out, some do, those that do never comment anything to me. They usually report back to bitch-granny and drop off the case or follow up on whatever they find there and drop off later."

Thus, ended Artyom's riveting tale.

"Well." I gently lay my hand on Belinda's back. Her muscles were like industrial steel cables. "Let's get some sleep for now. Tomorrow we will get to the mansion."

"Sorry to burst your bubble kid, but that's a week travel if we don't get derailed like we did today…" He trails off as I _looked_ at him. My crystalline crimson burying into his stormy blue.

"Tomorrow… we will get to the mansion." I repeated, and then turned to my maid, looking away from the now wheezing kid with a comically hard blush and another comically hard part. "Just get some sleep, ok. We will work this out." I said softly as I pulled her closer and kissed the crown of Belinda's golden locks, uncaring about what the human might think.

She gave me a short nod; it was the best I was going to get from her right now.

-0-0-0-

A melodic humming filled my ears. It was sweet and soft, with peaceful connotations that calms the heart, only the slightest hints of mischievousness broke the air of mature serenity that it would otherwise have.

I know that hum.

Mmm… I know that marshmallow sensation.

It came from warm flesh. With my eyes closed, they felt like the world itself. As colossal as they were soft, with a supple texture that clung to my skin as it moved up and down and to the sides. Locking me inside of a prison that was becoming more and more slippery as the beats of sweat accumulated and the warmth increased.

I let out a long hum as something different than sweat dripped down the unshaped center of heat and unintentionally molded the shape of the mushroom head of my cock. Only then I opened my eyes to the tangle of snow and wood that formed the ceiling of the safe haven and lowered it down to watch the naughty pink tongue painting her drool over my dick.

It was a beautiful thing to behold, especially when the drool mixed with my pre-cum and oozed down to the vast, milky lands that were sandwiching my cock.

Mother made sure we were locking eyes before she plucked her lips in the most alluring kissy-face ever made and brought that cushion of love and happiness down over the crown of my dick in a perfect motherly kiss.

"Morning, sweetie." She whispered and pressed on. Soft lips spreading forward as they descended over my head, playful tongue teasing the slit on the tip, getting her daily fill of pre-cum right from the source.

"Great morning." I groaned out a response, gripping a handful of her silky white hair and bringing her down impatiently. She began applying that vacuum that I loved, like the well-trained pet she was. "Finally got a handle of your new power, I see."

Her answer was a pleasant, vibrating moan. Her eyes fluttered passionately as her head goes up and down with cheeks caving in her suction. Her lips dragged along my length revealing and engulfing the glistening skin as she savored what she could it with her tongue. It was the face of a _slut_ rather than a mother's.

My beautiful slut-mother.

Finally, deciding that the Nadia situation was important enough to cut our son/mother's morning bonding time short, I forcefully pulled her down to the base and released the accumulated shot through my morning wood and into her hungry mouth. Not as much as I usually let out but enough for her to let out a delighted gurgle before setting to loudly gulp it down.

She pulled herself up as the release ended, greedily searching for leftovers with the tip of her tongue before pulling the lips out of my already cleaned and shiny cock with a wet pop that I love to hear.

"Oh, Ely." She sighed dreamingly, pressing forward a bit to pin my dick under her massive breasts and lay a kiss on the sensitive skin right beneath the mushroom head. "Mommy loves her mornings' milkshakes, hehehe." My dick throbbed at that, how could it not?

I smiled, laying my head back down and staring at the ceiling again.

"You should cover yourself, Artyom's gonna catch a look."

She let out a little giggle that was soft and feminine.

"Why, sweetie? Didn't you say that you like to flaunt what belonged to you?"

"Hm… Nah, I don't like him enough to let him have a look."

I felt her moving until the pristine white of her head appeared in my vision. Unable to resist, I lowered my eyes to her full glory.

She was still wearing what we grabbed on our way to the mad chase towards Belinda. A very thin sundress that flowed down to her mid-thighs. This was one of her 'easy access' clothes, something simple and functional and comfy that could be easily removed by, say; a strong breeze or a horny son. On this particular case, the puffy rings of fabric that acted as her sleeves were already out of her arms, and the twin elastic bands that were supposed to be holding her breasts were clinging right under them, letting the mammoth globes hang free and gloriously, as perky as gravity would allow something of that size to be. The area between them was drenched with sweat and pre-cum.

"Ne ne, Ely." Her naked legs curled to the side, and heat radiated from my nether regions again. She gingerly holds up the hem of the dress to show her fat, moist fold gliding along my length. "I know we are short on time, but mommy ready needs it." She bit her lips. "Can't we do it just once? Just to clear my head a little?"

Hmm, this makes sense; we had been interrupted before we could finish… two days ago? It's impressive how much she could hold off.

"I suppose the rest can wait a few minutes." I breathed.

"Oh, Ely." She moaned as she raised herself, using her fingers to line my rod to her drooling entrance. "Ely… Ely… Elyyy~."

She sang her mantra while she descended. Her walls so moistened by the contact that they yield easily to their favorite invader. When our hips met in an incestuous slap, her body tensed in a small orgasm.

"Muu Mu Ohhh!" She still held the hem of her skirt right, allowing me to see our connection and the juice she gushed over my crotch. "Ohh Sweetie~ you can reach so _deep_ now~ ~."

"Do you think…" I sighed. "Do you think this is an essence thing?"

"A-Ah, ah, hah." I don't think she heard me by the way she tilted her head and started to slowly sway her large motherly hips, manipulating my length to hit her deepest parts.

"This pleasure… this insane, intoxicating pleasure that makes me feels like heaven and hell whenever I _fuck_ you." I bucked my hips up, making her strangle out a gasp.

"Hell, if that's how you make me feel with only a bootlegged version of the Binder Essence, then I can't imagine how my dick must feel to you." A few more bucks, a few more gasps, and she started to get the message that our sleeping company wasn't so important anymore. Her walls clenched around me the way they do when I stoked her heavy exhibitionist streak. "Kinda make sense how I managed to rock your world even with my kiddy dick that time you took my virginity."

"Ohhhhh~" She gushed through her hands; there was drool leaking out from between her fingers. "They're gonna see, they're gonna see~ this _horny bitch_ of a mother getting plowed by her sonnn~" Her balance wavered as I got more forceful. Mother, despite her appearance and mannerisms, was actually pretty good in taking and keeping the lead during sex. She only sucked when it was against me.

"That insane, unexplainable, _inexplicable_ pleasure…" I brought her hips down hard… _and stopped._

"…That even _my own mind_ fails to reproduce."

"Mahw…Ely...-Eh?"

 **"Torquasm-Vo, Kel-Vut path: Tranquility."**

The safe-haven melted away. The waking forms of my companions melted away. The confused vision of my mother melted away.

I lay naked in the darkness.

Not the shadow type of darkness, with its crawling humming and its warm embrace that were as familiar to me as the arms of my mother. No, this was another darkness of another type; a cold, empty one; a deep fall toward the oblivion created by the endless tricks of the mind.

The emptiness was hungry. It quickly encroaches my form, never resting as I pulled my body to a sitting position, bringing my hands over the height of my chest and opening my fingers in signs unknown to all but me.

The emptiness lunged as my arms slowly moved into stances:

 **"Hearing."**

 _The slapping sounds were loud and very obscene. The strained yelps were like a grand orchestra to my ears. I rolled the pristine shadow glass rose in my fingers to make its exquisite edges reflect the blue light of the cold torches on the walls. A straggled, shrill cry of shame and agony reverberated throughout the dirty, dark dungeon, making sweet, sweet love with my ears again._

 _With a smile, I laid a loving kiss on the thornless rose._

 _On the darkest, coldest pit of the dudgeon, the limbless form of Grayfia Lucifuge was being gang-raped by tireless clones of Gerhardt Lehndorff. She squealed and cried like a pig as she was violated by the wretched thing that had violated my mother time and time again. Her eyes were blank and empty, devoid of hope and strength._

 _Hm… Broken in the first year of her sentence. What a disappointment._

 _I stood from my chair, leaving the disgustingly weak woman to the rest of her five hundred and ninety nine years in Gerhardt's tender care._

 **"Vision."**

 _I could feel her against me, of course, but the sight on the mirror was just as majestic as feeling her sweaty mess of a body writhing against my skin. I had tied Mother to my torso in a careful, yet lovingly tight formation with a velvet fabric, which let me hold her up and fuck her in a standing full nelson without fear of dropping her._

 _I used her body as a toy, my burly dick jackhammering her tight little ass away. The hole spread thin around my_ _width, its reddened state hinting at hours of no-stop abuse, where a combination of lube, spit, and semen helped me drive myself deeper._

 _Mother wiggled and writhed and cried in pain and pleasure, She was reaching heights I rarely took her to, and I knew there was much more to come. Part of me wanted to stop and check when I noticed traces of blood, but I knew she wouldn't like that; I had promised I'd utterly wrecked her ass when this time came, and that was a promise I planned to fulfill._

 _Her sopping pussy burst into a powerful squirt that was accompanied by a loud wail. I pay no mind to that as I fucked her through it. Her squirting breaking into short bursts that followed the rhythm of my thrust, her giant breasts violently bouncing up and down with rivulets of milk pouring down their curve and thin streams shooting wildly from the engorged nipples. Her head lolled weightlessly, and face was locked in an expression of pure ecstasy, with eyes of someone who long since stopped bothering to think._

 _And the heavily pregnant belly bounced on the center of it all, amazingly that was the most attention-grabbing thing about her currently._

 _As I pushed myself deeper inside to apply another layer of cream to her pie, she suddenly jerked around with a throaty moan. Her pussy quivered in powerful currents._

 _"OH, OH-OHHHH!-SHE'S COMING! SHE IS COMING ELY, SHE'S COMINGGGGGG!"_

 _I smiled, gathering strength in my legs to turn and get onto the bed._

 _We'd decided that our daughter would be born amidst the peak of ecstasy and love, and I strive to make good on that decision._

 **"Smell."**

 _"I smell victory ahead!"_

 _"Ah, I see, you have become a dog, clearly what you were always meant to be."_

 _"HAH! I see your tongue's still sharp as ever! Good to see this silly little war wasn't deprived you of your sense of humor, my dear minion!"_

 _We stood on the precipice of the enormous crater that used to be the mountainous valley that separated the Devil side and the Fallen side of the underworld. Before us, rows and rows of fallen, angels, devils, yokais, gods, and hundred other races sprawled around the horizon, covering it as a whole. All power in the world united in a single mighty force._

 _Behind us, the chosen few we had managed to gather._

 _"There is no war in the world that is going to make me give you less snark, bird boy."_

 _"What is this! Are you two flirting again!?"_

 _"HAHAHA Magnificent! A moment of levity between brothers in arms before a great battle is fine indeed!"_

 _"Knowing these two, it's probably less levity and more like delusion of grandeur and annoyed resignation."_

 _"YOU FUCKERS! YOU RUINED THE BROTHERLY MOMENT BETWEEN MY MINION AND THE GREAT ME!"_

 _I sighed, stepping on the very edge of the precipice, watching as the distant form of the Satans took to the sky to rally their nigh-infinite troops._

 _There were steps beside me._

 _I looked to the right, and saw Rias Gremory with the power of destruction wrapped around her shapely body like a flowing dress, and her aquamarine eyes shone with the secrets of the final unraveling. At her side was Sairaorg Bael, who brimmed in the twelve lights of enlightenment that Jade Heaven itself tried to keep it from him, he looked ready to teach the warriors on the other side what being a warrior truly meant. I looked to the left and saw the primordial flames and fury that would eat the world and give birth to it time and time again crudely contained in the shape of Riser Phenex. At his side Sona Sitri stood suspiciously still in her neat Kuoh Academy uniform while the layers of reality liquefied around her._

 _I stared ahead, at the crowded horizon, and smiled._

 _They were at a disadvantage._

 **"Taste."**

 _Devil's pussy tasted different than human pussy. Or perhaps the pussy of a woman affected by the breeder essence tasted different. There isn't a way for me to know as my dating pool consisted only of two women who were exactly like that._

 _But hey, I'm thirteen. I'm sure there'll be opportunities to test these theories in the future._

 _For now, though, I will enjoy the pussy that I was devouring._

 _Female juices and arousal dripped freely down my tilted chin, an easy position to do so, considering the pussy was right above and I had coiled my shadows around the long, shapely legs and partially manifested my head to latch on this delicious womanhood, which, after a full-body shiver and an almost undetectable hiccup, was quickly deteriorating into a sopping fountain for me to enjoy._

 _The woman, however, stubbornly refused to show any signs of the pleasure I was giving her. In fact, she occasionally moved around in her only slightly wobbly legs, stop to accentuate something in her instruction, and start moving again. It was only when she sat down the teacher-like desk that she allowed her hips to buck against my tongue and her legs to quiver, but even then, her voice stayed annoyingly even._

 _With my efforts hidden under the curtain of her long maid skirt, Belinda continued to teach a class of bright-eyed young maids-to-be, with little Reika at the front row, no doubt._

 _It would be so scandalous if the head maid of the proud Dantalion family demonstrated anything less than perfect control. Can you imagine what would happen if she falls right now, her skirt blowing upward by a mysterious gust of wind to reveal her tight little quim as it continued to squirt? Her face contorted in an agony of pleasure while she amazed and horrified and allured her young students. Oh, the drama! The indecency! No wonder she was trying to hold herself back so much._

 _I smiled around her clit, my devious nibbling finally provoking a quiet little groan._

 _Challenge accepted._

 _ **"Touch."**_

 _I snapped my eyes open, finally terminating that dreadful nightmare about a man in another world waking up from a long coma._

 _This is why I don't sleep._

 _"Mou, Elyhhh…" There are arms around me, and whatever distance created between my Mother's and my naked bodies while we slept was filled again. I didn't even try to move my head out of the soft prison to breathe; I didn't need that shit right now. Right now, I only needed a warm breast cocoon._

 _I'm still here, in my beautiful mother's arms, with my sexy maid snoring protectively close by, lying in a warm, soft bed with my head fully between even warmer and softer breasts._

 _…The future still uncertain, there are powerful enemies that would spot the smallest of our failures, and I'm still not strong enough._

 _But for now I'm in bed with my mother, so everything is alright._

 _She let out a dreamy little giggle when I started to use her nipple as a pacifier. I was 79% sure she was awake at the time._

 **"** _ **Torquasm-Vo, Bar-Tho path: Focus."**_

I was floating in the void again, this time the darkness around me no longer felt endless, or even oppressive. This time it felt like the dark behind your eyelids when you take a moment to reflect and create little place where your mind could rest; it was the only darkness in the world that wasn't feared by anyone.

It didn't approach, only stayed where it was, on the surface of the perfect bubble, accepting the sovereignty of my consciousness and its own inferiority towards my will.

I moved my arms one last time, one last sign, one last stance.

 **"** _ **Torquasm-Vo, Ra-El path: Transcendence."**_

-0-0-0-

I awoke just as my body was taking its last step out of the safe area.

From what I could see, it was pandemonium outside.

The forest was whistling, groaning and creaking as the strong winds shook the snow out of its trees. Some parts were on fire, but the fire never lasted for too long, and the tallest and widest flames seemed to inexplicably separate into smaller flames in entirely new directions before being swallowed by the dark.

All around the trees, around the snow and the shadows, monsters roared and advanced. _Waves_ of it, specimens of all kinds trying to converge around a fast-moving form, from the tiniest of rabbits to the largest of bears. Many were damaged enough to reveal the horrific abominations of black flesh and grotesque tendrils they truly are. All of them, without exception, were trying to overwhelm the fast-moving light, which shone like a sun in the contrasting darkness.

Belinda was a whirlwind of flames, her maid armor gleamed on the flickering light and reflected the forms of her attackers as they advanced, and to each, she showed no fear. On her hand, the _Fiery Lover_ cauterized any damage she gave out, robbing the beasts of their regeneration and forcing them to retreat, on another, the _Fair Lady_ danced in a primarily defensive role, the control over wind it provided used to feed the _Fiery Lover's_ flames and help control the hard-to-tame power. The combination has allowed the maid to create six scepters of fire that burned away any approaching opponent in a rapidly moving circumference, and presumably let her create horizontal flame tornados to blast her opponents with.

However that was _all_ she was doing- Don't get me wrong, it was more than enough to mow down waves after waves of the corrupted animals and burn what was left of them so they wouldn't rise back up, however, with those two rapiers in hand, she was a like a _Phenex_. I knew she was watching footage of the Phenex's rating game matches for inspiration, so I know for a fact she could do a lot more than that. So why…

Oh, so _that_ 's why she's holding back.

A shadow, as if: a thing that it was hard to see rather than the lack of light, was dashing around the trees and dodging its way through the wavy animals.

Whenever Belinda tried to direct a long scale attack, the shadow would get in the way, forcing her to change to a weaker one in the last second, and the times the shadow got close were also the only time where she retreated. As if she was trying to keep it out of the reach of her automatic flaming murder barrier.

I followed the shadows disruptive actions for a few seconds, my eyes occasionally slipping from its form, propelled by a force that was quickly analyzed by my magic eyes and added on my mental list of 'useful spells' as a fairly badass notice-me-not charm.

It was then that Belinda happened to look in my direction and catch me standing on the edge of the battle. Her eyes widened in recognition, realization, and deep, unrestrained _terror_ in a single moment. The shock was so great it made her stumble, prompting the bigass horror bear behind me to swing his claws at her unprotected back.

The eldritch polar bear was blown across the forest by the strength of my push. I could hear Belinda's armor straining as she suddenly tried to match my speed in a twist.

There was a grim determination in her eyes as she pushed a supersonic piercer into my afterimage.

Then, a meaty slap on her ass from under her skirt broke the dark look into a surprising yelp.

"I'm not mind-controlled. Calm down." I said, as my shadow exploded behind me to take out the income horde from behind.

The maid was back of her feet in the next second, the wolves that had jumped on her previously stunned form weren't. "Did you need to make a show of it?!"

"Wasn't trying to, I was just born for drama." With a gesture, I moved my shadow under us in a circle, making the edges partially projected from the ground in the form of a wall of blades, then set it to automatic, forming an improvised murder barrier around us where we could talk.

"What's the situation?"

"Ambush, The safe haven wasn't as safe as we thought." She answered without hesitation.

"And the human?"

Belinda snapped her eyes to the left just as I raised the barrier higher in that direction. There was a flash of light, no impact or energy expelled, just a simple flash of light. And we noticed that several of the nearby roars and growling suddenly paused, and the new statues of the attacking beasts fell to the snow together with a thin petrified part of the surface of my shadow.

I was slightly put off by that last part.

"Mind-controlled." The maid deadpanned, her eyes trying to track the shadowy form's movements. Her version of the Archmage essence was weaker than mine and fairly new to her, so she was mostly unsuccessful. "I think is-"

"Dream-based, I can confirm it. I ever have an idea of what was caused it." I frowned, feeling Artyom... "He multiplied! How the hell…"

"The Bronze Scepter's artifacts are highly annoying to deal with." Belinda groaned. it was a groan full of annoyance and experience.

"Right." I decided. "I can take him down without trouble. You can focus on eradicating his zoo." She grinned wildly at that; I can see she was frustrated about not being able to go crazy on them. "After that, I'll get us out of this fucking illusion."

"Illusion?"

I shook my head.

"Later, just go."

She remained still for two seconds with her eyes were widening in sudden realization, but after it she followed my order, jumping over the edges of the shadow wall and into the beasts behind it, her two rapiers swinging in her favorite combination.

The wall grew behind me as the enormous explosion happened, and I ignored it and spread my senses across the area.

Mother sleeping in a thorny cocoon inside the shadows was so adorable that I almost stopped to watch, but the early mind control attempt was the last drop and I just wanted to be done with this place.

My shadow shot forward in a circle engulfing the entire forest ground with it. At my command, it spread further and further no matter how the forest tried to overlap.

With a pulling gesture, my shadow burst off the ground and restrained eleven different hard-to-see blurs and brought them all to me, positioning one right in front of me. I made sure the blurs could barely move before I searched about their form for what it was causing it.

"Oh, clever reference; Hades and the Helm of Darkness thingy. Doubt it's the original though; the Greek deities are infamously possessive about their shinnies." I reach out to yank the helm keeping Artyom invisible- the fuck.

It was… a cap, a rainbow-colored cap with a little helicopter rotor on top.

… I… The last time I saw this thing was in a _cartoon_ on _my old life_ , I wasn't even sure they _existed._

Now it was one of the most badass magical artifacts I'd ever seen.

I shook my head and looked at the sleeping form of Artyom. I scanned him out with my eyes and noticed they tingled a lot more on some areas of the boy's body.

One of them was the spell that was controlling his body, the caster severed the connection as I searched, but it wouldn't help them for very long...

With time on my side, I started to pull random magical things from Artyom. All of them were master grade and followed the same ridiculous theme as the cap. It was easy to see that as Brozen Scepter's quirks.

A feather pen that affects magical formulas without damaging them… somehow, a D20 dice that predicted the weather, an analog camera that petrified everything caught in its flash, a laser pointer that summon a horde of cats to your position, a monocle that could show what a person did a day before from her perspective, an airsoft that turned its ammunition into explosives… There were a lot of them, a lot with nice useful spells and other with useless ones, I looked over all of them, analyzed and catalogued what I could for later…

I don't know about her personality, but this Brozen Scepter is clearly a genius. It wasn't just the effects and the variety of effects she'd managed to put in so many different and seemly random items, but the way she _integrated_ them, the care that went in their crafting, it was so great that I can fully believe a small child that has no idea that magic even existed can pick up one of these items and use it… and that's probably one of the reasons she causes so much chaos now that I think about it.

I raised one of the last items, a plastic inhaler like one it could be found in any drugstore, flicked the things setting with a slight exertion of my will, changing the blue color for a red one. Then I jacked it into Artyom's mouth and pushed the button.

He took an involuntary breath of the thing, as he did all the blurry figures restrained by the rest of the shadows got pulled back and slammed on him in a not so gentle fusion. The sudden sensation woke the boy.

"What-What the fuck is-" I dropped him down and processed to more important things.

The forest was now burning, or at least the part immediately around us was, too much flames to dose fast enough it seemed, the forest's previous tactics weren't working.

I tried spreading my senses them again, they told me about the animals, about Belinda, and a shocked Artyom behind me, then I reached with my shadows…

Nothing.

I lowered myself to the snowy ground, sinking my perception a bit deeper, and tried to feel again with my mind partially out of my body.

… My eyes snapped open.

 **Worthless.**

I swung my arm and a greenish wave washed over the trees immediately in front of me. They twisted, wailed, and gave up into empty space free of flames and snow, the world contorted in on itself after the pulse of the nullifying wave, part of it was torn out, ripped, or canceled into nothingness. Then everything snapped back into place.

Not enough, hm? Either I'm not good enough with Worthless yet, or this cover was a lot more badass than I thought.

"You're back." I heard Belinda say behind me.

"And you're burning the forest!? What the fuck happened!?"

"Bitch to explain, just shut up and follow. Hey, Elias…"

I didn't have much experience with illusions. I made protections against it; I read about it and memorized some basic spells, but fighting an illusionist is the only real thing that would test me, and I've never done it. I've never faced this kind of thing before, and I admit this one is above the spells I know.

Luckily though, I had something that is an enemy of all illusion by its very nature.

"Elias? Elias, what are you doing!?

The Great Revealer, the Flawless Inspirer, the Bringer of the Truth. All components of its nature. It _could_ be used for illusions, but it wasn't built for it. For it was _truth,_ and illusions were _lies_.

"Holy crap what the hell-"

 _"Elias!"_

 _Holy light_ broke through the skin of my arm, coating my limb with an endless stream of purifying energy. The pain resulted from this was oddly pleasant.

"FUCK!"

"Keep away," I told the distressed Belinda, turning to look at her. "I'll be very peeved if you got burned coming close to me."

"Hell of a time to pull off bullshit Elias!" She screamed, panicking a bit.

"Relax, I know what I'm doing." For some reason, that didn't reassure her. "Look, its only a little bit of pain, okay? I can handle it."

 _"The fact that there is pain at all is not ok!"_

Urh, she is as fussy as Mother sometimes. It's not like it's the first time she saw me doing this.

Oh right, her old mind leash must have erased those memories.

Silly worry-wart maids and mind fuckery aside, I finally had the thing I needed, so I pointed in the direction my other senses indicated.

Light bore down, ripping through the cover of illusion to reveal the world underneath. It didn't end the illusion though, like Worthless, it seems to only have a limited effect. Still, unlike Worthless it showed what was hidden underneath, so I just had to keep up like that and- yep, giant cone of reality piercing the illusion from my hand.

Bad news, the forest was really on fire. Made sense because Belinda's attacks _weren't_ illusions. The good news, though; the forest made some damn sense again. Had a sky and everything.

And on the far end of the edge of the light, far from perception of human eyes but clear as day for mine, someone was sprinting away.

Belinda _blurred_ as she passed by me. I smiled; she didn't even need orders.

I approached the struggling forms, my improvised flashlight cutting a path of reality through the growing confusion. Looks like the forest, or the spell over the forest, or whoever was casting it was feeling the disruption I'm making in the middle and was trying to compensate. On the edges of the light, trees began to grow, snow started to fall, and new angles started to appear. I ignored all that and walked forward. Growing closer to the incoherent screaming.

"LIERS! INVADERS! B-BULLIES! WHERE DID YOU TAKE MY EDWARD!? GIVE HIM BACK, GIVE HIM BACKGIVEHIMBAGGIVEHIMBACK…"

The figure beneath Belinda was writhing like a feral animal, screaming several lines that fluctuated between coherent and not, and actually producing a few animal sounds. Belinda, who was already on edge, began to hit it in the face, which interrupted the screams for a gurgling second but only made it worse in the end.

The creature was a girl. Human-like - no, human. Appearance-wise she… Well, she looked like Gollum from Lord of the Rings; dirty rags barely holding on, frail skeletal body, wispy patches of brown and grey hair over a very spread thin face, and barely any teeth in that way-too-wide mouth. Oh, and she only has one arm, in fact, the area on the left side of her face descending to where her arm was supposed to be was… Wait a second.

"Belinda, stop that." I said, prompting the maid to stop the hitting the already bloody face of the girl, didn't do shit to stop her screaming. "Turn her over, I wanna see something."

She grunted but did what I asked, pinning the girl down and tumbled her flailing body to the side, placing a knee over the bony hips to keep it in that position. The curses and wails were coming in muffled down due to the fact Belinda was pressing her face into the snow.

I inspected the gap on her rags that showed the entire left side of her body. It was a… scar, but it was a very _peculiar_ scar, for starters it didn't look like a burn or a cut, or even a good old ripping damage; the skin seems undamaged yet they hung loosely from the body in a series of inch-long 'tips', like someone had reached down and _scooped_ that part of her body. Suddenly I had a flashback about a creepy commercial of an ice cream man eating his own head from a lifetime ago.

And there were also some traces of magic, too faint and weird for me to make sense of it...

"You caught the hag!" Shouted Artyom as he finally caught up to us.

Both me and Belinda sent him looks.

"Excuse me?" I raised my eyebrow.

Hag? She doesn't look like a Hag… well, she does, but Hags are always drenched in mud, had hunches the size of a camel's humps, and can use voodoo magic. This one just seems to be a very malnourished human. I'm 98% sure of that…

"The hag she… holy crap, you really caught her." Artyom was looking at our captive with wide eyes.

"She's your friend or something!?" Growled Belinda, her patience still in the low ends of 'barely there'.

"What? No!" The human began. "This bitch is a nightmare! She can take control of you if you sleep! Used to rip out whole squads of mages if they let their guard down; nobody ever managed to catch her when she ran into the trees… Holy crap, you just did." He breathes out.

The explanation made Belinda let out a sound, not unlike a feral growl. The look she gave the boy could set him on fire. Seriously, I saw she do that once.

"You _KNEW_ She could mind-control people!? And you didn't tell us _WHY!?"_

Artyom flinched back so hard he almost fell. "Ah-I- I didn't tell because you wouldn't sleep otherwise, and you _needed_ rest! She _never_ appeared this far from the mansion before-Fuck I thought we wouldn't have to deal with her for at least some days!"

"Oh, that explains _everything!_ You were _planning_ to tell us about the _mind-controller_ eventually! SHUT UP!" She shouted and _punched_ the hag girl who was trying to out scream the conversation back down. The thing finally went limp. When she glared back at Artyom the smile was gone. "Do you have any idea how close we were to being _fucked_ back them!?"

Artyom drew a breath, this time baring teeth. "Shut up! It's _your_ fault! You are the idiots _provoking_ the damn forest and making it go all weird! Everything would've been under control if you had _followed my orders!"_

Belinda threw what she was holding off the limp hag girl to the side and rose to her full height. "I should teach you so manners, _brat!"_

"Oh yeah, come on, then you devil bitch!" And the airsoft guns were in his hands.

In the meanwhile, using the hand that wasn't projecting the holy flashlight, I picked up the stylized smoke lantern that has fallen right beside the hag girl. The Sacred Gear began dissolving into bright particles as soon as it felt the unauthorized touch of a different soul.

The Folly of Sandman, a mid-tier Sacred Gear that locks a target in an illusionary dream of what their heart wishes the most while giving the wielder control of their bodies, utterly useless in direct combat but pretty tricky if used right.

Hm… Nadia's Dagon's Trickery, this girl's Folly Of Sandman, and this weird illusion covering the whole forest. What the hell that vampire wants with so many illusions, and how the hell does this relate to the one we're living right now.

"Enough!" I threw my arm back and formed a shadow wall between the two as the human began to shoot. "Time and fucking place!"

Belinda buffed, and then turned to me, ignoring her would-be opponent. "Elias, that Gear she have is-"

"I know," I said, appreciating the fact that she didn't stop thinking even while tittering at the edge of an outburst.

She nodded, her armor melting away to her winter cloak.

Artyom still eyed the shadow wall wearily while it descended. He frowned when Belinda came into view, and bodily turned towards me.

"Alright, enough with that mysterious bullshit, if we want to reach the mansion, we got to pull our shit together. If you think that light trick will help-"

"We're going?" Belinda interrupted, earning a glare.

"Yeah." It was my only answer.

"See, that's the shit I'm talking about! The next wave is coming we have to-"

"Look, kid-." Belinda sighed. "Artyom, I'm _sorry,_ alright. I know you trying to help, and we can see that you can hold your own, but right here, right now. Our way is just better."

"The hell you're on about?" He asked.

Belinda met his eyes. "I'm making good on what I told you before entering this forest."

"What!?" His time, he snarled. "What are you…" The sentence trails off, and surprisingly, he pulls a breath. "Right…" He let out. "Right, damn it, what do you have in mind?"

"We cut through this Harry Houdini bullshit and make a beeline right towards the mansion," I said. Because frankly, I've seen enough of this place.

I have _questions,_ and I don't like where they're going.

* * *

A/N:

Torquasm-Vo is kryptonian 'mental' martial arts that lets Superman fight against mental and soul based attacks, It is a Martial Art so the Warlord Essence made Elias a master of it.


	26. Chapter 21

Beta'd by eveakane and gaouw back at QQ forum.

* * *

Chapter 21

* * *

The last joke of the critically acclaimed comic book "The Killing Joke" goes something like this:

 _There were these two guys in a lunatic asylum, and one night they decided they don't like living in the asylum anymore, they decided they are going to escape. So they get onto the roof and there, just across a narrow gap they see the rooftops of the town stretching away in the moonlight, stretching away to freedom. Now the first guy jumps right across with no problem, but his friend didn't, he was afraid of falling down. So the first guy has an idea. He says "Hey, I have my flashlight with me, I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings, you can walk along the beam and join me. The second guy shakes his head. "Do you think I'm crazy!?" He says "You'd turn it off when I was halfway across"._

Our current situation kinda reminds me of that, the whole "walking on a beam of light" thing.

"Jesus…" Artyom says as he looks at the violent shifting sea of branches and snow violently rasping on the edge of our tunnel of light.

"Oh, don't even get me started on that guy." I rolled my eyes and turned to Belinda. "How are you holding up?"

I'm not worried about her; Belinda is a badass devil that could absolutely handle being under the shine of the holy light. Hell, I'd be confident to bet that she could handle a Vatican church without being instantly vaporized, and so, of course, this little light show isn't going to-

Oh fuck, she is smoking slightly.

…ok, I'm a little bit worried.

Despite what I was seeing and what must be an ever-accumulating pain, my maid showed no signs of it, nor did she appear to be weakened by the light even though her top half looked like it was about to catch fire.

She turned a serious and unflinching gaze to me.

"Is that what you feel each time you do this, Elias?" She said, and I could hear a stern 'We'll be talking about this later' and a very, _very_ well-hidden hiccup of worry in her voice.

Goddamn it. It's times like these that I consider putting some of her mental blocks back on.

Troublesome woman.

"Guys, I…" Artyom interrupted. Thank you, Artyom. "I can't make heads or tails about this. I… I don't know where we are."

"The forests never acted like this before, right?" I looked at him and smiled. "Oh, believe me, this is a surprise for us too. For what we know about illusions, they are not supposed to act like this. The reaction is just too dynamic to be set by a caster, and…" I thought back at our magic and how they interacted with the environment. Hell, the fact that they even managed to interact with anything in the first place is… "Everything 'round here is too… _tactile_ to be an illusion, yet it is, somehow. It's fascinating."

"Might not be. Might be spatial magic. I've seen rigged pocket dimensions before." Belinda added, thankfully bringing the focus back on something important.

I shook my head, happy to share my knowledge like the cute magical dork I am.

"If this were, I would have been cut off from the shadows." Space magic; my shadow magic's only weakness… for now. "And it wouldn't make sense with what we know about the phenomenon. Pocket dimensions are required to be maintained by an active party at all times, and a fuckload of energy is required for them to grow past their initial core casting structure. That means the caster or casters would have to be constantly focusing on the spell for over three years to make it work the way it is, and all this effort would require enough energy to make a Satan sweat. And that's not even considering the nature of the dimension; I mean, a snowy forest with eldritch creatures that react to your presence and can attack in coordinated hordes? Unless you're telling me this is Beelzebub's vacation house or something, I'm placing my bets on an illusion."

"Which doesn't discount the energy problem or the complex reactions we're getting," Belinda commented. "And the fact that our magic interacts with the things here, yet don't on the other side, with by itself shouldn't be possible… Just what the hell is this place?"

A feast for my magical eyes is what is it. Practically a crash course on _'weird illusion magic that you can learn - and what was that about illusion magic principles? You can throw that shit out of the window. We won't be needing it here.'_

I know I shouldn't be giggly given everything, but I'm a little giggly.

"A fucking headache is what it is," Artyom said, and then flinched when the face of something hit the walkway of light around us, and get shred by its reality anchoring proprieties. "Fucking… How the hell do we even know where we're going in the first place?"

"Mother woke up. I'm helping her discern between which shadows are real. She is sending me feedback about the way we must go based on the ways the two types of shadow interact."

It's easier to do that on the other side, so she claims.

"There is that mother talk again." The teenager grumbled.

Now, how to describe our little journey? Ahead of us, an uneventful path of trees and soft snow, illuminated only by the light I was producing. Around us, a whirling perspective that stretched for an unnecessary continental length, where every turn was marked by the apparition of mind-breaking horrors that crashed against our shield in a tireless frenzy to get inside and through the line that separates reality from unreality.

Eventually, the shifting ether gave way to a snowy clearance. The light directed us to a metal gate, while the world around it straightened itself into something that made sense.

We could hear the creaking, like bones grinding together in the distance, like cords twisted over itself until the limit. The source of the noise was unmistakable.

Beyond the gates, beyond the barren, snowy field, there was a structure made from flesh and concrete that jutted out towards the sky, swirling over itself like an unholy spiral that built around itself like a twisted mockery of modern architecture, which by itself is already a mockery.

Unholy amounts of eyes and mouths reacted to our approach, pus and mucus oozed out, dripping over the building's leathery skin to accumulate on the ground around it, turning the snow into a yellow, gurgling substance with a greenish hue.

We stared at that… thing for a full minute, before Artyom lost his dinner.

"You didn't tell us that the mansion was a tower," I asked, my mouth dipping downwards. "Shall we start a list of the things you forgot to mention?"

Vomit boy finished his business and held up a hand, asking for a moment to recompose.

"It's… not. The mansion is a little bigger than before, but it never looked like..." He looked up again and made to hurl, but managed to keep it in. " _This_ monstrosity… I've never seen it this bad."

"Please don't tell me we have to climb this thing," Belinda said, trying to gauge its height.

"I don't know, I've never been inside, I told you. From this point on, I'm blind."

"Nobody ever told you what they found in there?" The maid asked, still trying to find an excuse to not go inside, or, more accurately, not _waste time_ going inside.

I looked back at the goo as it began to quiver. Soon, in the grossest example of transmutation I've ever seen, a half-formed _elephant_ was working its way out. There was nothing but a bestial sort of hate in its eyes, and they were laser-focused on us.

"Figured out where all those animals come from," I comment as I brought my hands together, turning the beam of the holy light off for the first time since I cast it.

The _world itself_ closed in on our position.

For about a second, before a piercing mass of light pushed it back explosively into the proper place.

Illusion died, and the truth was revealed under the light of this new mini sun of holy light.

I threw the sphere to the air, where it arched like a shooting star on its way to the top — stopping close to the living monster structure before it _exploded_ into a light of unmatched intensity for a single moment. The building literally _screeches_ in agony as its flesh unraveled in specks of lights.

A bubble of reality quickly formed, and the monstrous tower became a mansion again. Old, a bit run down, but definitely a completely average, lived-in human residency.

Belinda grunted, her skin now producing a low hiss as it cooked.

My eyes widened. "Shit. Sorry about-."

"We will talk later. For now, let's get inside. _To the shade_." She muttered the last part.

"Ah. D-Did you just?" Artyom sounded shocked, though none of us stopped to check on him. Our objective is right there, no more delays. "I mean, what now- can I even…"

I silenced him by gesturing him to follow us. Might as well after all of this.

-0-0-0-

The door creaked as we pushed it open, and for the first time in years, steps echoed inside the empty mansion.

I looked around its dark interior. Taking in the dilapidated wallpaper of what once was a beautiful pattern. Hearing the quiet clicking of the old crystal furniture as the vibrations our movements produced reach them. The front room was dark even with the beaming light outside, not a hurdle for Belinda or me, but Artyom will probably need a few seconds before he could see anything.

I took a few creaking steps in, hearing the tapping of my boots against the dusty floor. "There is dust, but no difference in the layers… Artyom, is this the first time someone entered this mansion while it was not partially monstrous?"

"Yeah." He said, rubbing his eyes as if this would make them adapt faster. "What are we looking for?"

"Clues." Belinda cuts in. Pulling a deep breath, then slowly letting out. "… Three years old clues, on a place that has been investigated many times before."

"No use getting worked up about it now. We need to look around the place, anywhere Nadia might have stayed, or might have some document about the vampire,"

Still, three years is a long time. Belinda is right to worry.

If the worst comes to happen and we don't find anything, I'll hunt down the ones that have been here before us and make them talk. A bit tricky considering their affiliation to the many magical organizations around Russian though. It would have to be done quietly.

Only as plan B, of course, I still wanted to try my hand looking for clues around here.

Thus began our task of prowling the empty rooms and cavernous halls of the mansion looking for clues, which was… actually pretty hard.

Even with the early monsterfication of the structure, time seemed to have pass normally. There were signs that the place used to be inhabited, like rotten food, leftover clothes, and some marks left behind on the furniture, there were also traces of old blood but considering that this was a mansion where a vampire once made its lair, this was normal, and the traces of old blood were everywhere.

I was at the stairs, looking at a particular long stain on the previously whitish wall.

The steps beneath me, going down the staircase, were also darker.

"There is WAY too much underwear around here!" I hear Artyom grumble loudly as he exited one of the rooms.

"Sorry?"

He flinched, surprised to see me crouching by the stairs, he recovered with only a slight blush.

"Clothes, too many clothes." He cleaned his throat. "The rooms they're… still mostly furnished. Whoever was living here didn't try to move."

"Or left everything behind," Belinda remarked as she surged from a door in the corner carrying a few books. "Library's been ransacked. I don't know if it was the vampire or the mages." She went to her knees close to me, laying down four books for me to see and opening them in specific pages. She pressed her finger on the words. "Vinton Cipher… in a written language I can't make heads and tails about. But I saw it in a book in the castle's library, so you probably had read it." I lean in to see the words and immediately caught the unique code. "What can you tell us?" Even Artyom perked up interested at that.

I reach up and rearranged the books so that they were in the correct order, putting one upside down in relation to the others, and another diagonally.

A message began to appear.

"Sanguineoum, an European vampire language, not among their core ones, though." Unlike the Devils, vampires didn't have an older-than-time unholy tongue that could serve as their 'main' languages, so they use a council of elders to decide whichever is going to be the one used on official matter for the century or something like that, among the list of languages were many that they came out with themselves. The books were vague as shit about this, though. "It's missing the last two parts, but from what I can see." Both my companions lean in. "It's a mission report, directed towards this Edward Kullen, something about a delivery, no, the escort to a delivery group… What's _The Requiem Of the Night?_ "

Sounds like a prophecy… please, Satans don't let this be a prophecy.

Belinda shrugged, but to our surprise, Artyom had an answer. "Vampire mercenary group." He explained with a frown. "Is that guy a member?" He asked, harshly.

I knew what he meant.

"Considering they are reporting to him, though not like messaging a superior, more like to keep him informed… I'd say yes."

There was something palpable in the air after I said that. Artyom pierced the open books with a fixed stare. Eyes widened in disbelief. Belinda went still, I noticed her tightening the grip on her emotions.

This is a _genuine_ clue, nothing about Nadia yet, but we just got a solid lead. And solid lead from a clue three years old, with less than an hour of searching…

"I'm going to continue looking. Maybe there is something I missed." Belinda jumped to her feet and made her way back. She was visibly more… herself.

"…I…" Artyom took a breath to calm himself. "Right!" He patted his jacket for a moment, producing a small dowsing rod. "I have this… thing that is difficult to use, but it should let me catch leftover traces of magic no matter how old it is… somehow. I'll scan downstairs and call you if I find anything."

With that, he brushed past me with quick steps, barely noticing as he pressed me to the wall.

I couldn't help but smile at that. Even something this simple is enough to set them off…But then again, a ray of hope, even if a bit premature for my taste, is still a powerful motivator.

The shadows of the handrail trembled in an almost frustrated way, and yet again, mother sent me a tearful apology to my mind, which I immediately reassured, of course.

Even outside the direct shine of the sun of holy light I've created, its holy presence still saturated the air. Belinda wasn't burning anymore, thankfully, but she must still be highly bothered by it, and my mother can't even access the shadows of this part of the 'surface' from within the shadowlands, the holiness here jammed her demonic energy if she tries.

… Another sign of how… alien I must seem to a regular devil. Sure, I had to deal with this exact effect the first few times I tried to use both energies at the same time, but I long since got used to it, and my energies themselves, both sides of the coin, got used too.

No time to ponder about that. I, too, must give my all.

So I poured my holy-resistant demonic energy, making my shadow _spread_ across _every inch_ of this mansion. Artyom let out an exclamation as the waves of blackness crawled under his feet, Belinda simply raised the document she was reading from the table so the shadows wouldn't hide the scripts-

Jamming, twisting, illusion- What the hell!?

There is a part where…

I hitched a breath, crossing the stairway and the corridors while my shadow snapped back in place. When I open the door to the small library/main office, Belinda raised her eyes from the report she was reading and caught my look.

"What did you find?" She asked, rising from the chair.

"Hidden passage," I said, stepping in front of a particular part of the wall.

The maid frowned, "It was the first thing I looked…"

A sphere of holy light formed over my hand that soon became a beam that cuts through the wooden wall, making it _sink_ upon itself the way wood never would.

"It was hidden under the same type of illusion…"

An illusion that is now _fighting against the light._

Artyom burst through the door.

"Guys the forest outside!-"

"Let me guess; it's fading." I gritted my teeth. "It's focusing on the illusion right here. Not that it would help."

With a flick of my fingers, I widened the gap the beam of light has made and formed a circular arch that forced back the part of the wall-that-never-was, revealing…

Splintered wood, deep gashes, and a way down.

A hole.

"Signs of battle," Belinda observed, watching the truth revealed by the arch. She hesitantly pushed her head through it. "There is an elevator cable. No sign of the actual elevator. The fall is around 700 to 800 meters deep." And of course, the next thing that came from her mouth was: "I'm going in."

Then she jumped. The darkness briefly flashing from the summoning of her maid armor.

"Okay, that happened," Artyom said. "I think I can work on something to bring us down there…" He trailed off when he saw my smile.

"Crap."

-0-0-0-

To the kid's credit, he bore the 800 meters drop through the utterly dark tunnel stoically.

I created a bubble of air to soften our landing for his sake, crushing even more of the remains of the elevator in the process. From the base of the tunnel, there was a long, caved corridor that seems to stretch forever.

Belinda had stopped a few meters in.

"I thought it was too obvious." She explained.

"Yeah," I said, casting holy light across the wall. Chasing away the darkness and making Belinda let out a grunt of pain.

The end of the corridor became visible.

"Shit, is this it?" Artyom said as he joined us.

"Do you think anybody else reached this place?" I asked him.

"I don't… fuck, this is unbelievable to me, ok?"

"Let's get on with this," Belinda said as she roughly pushed the fortified door off its hinges and into the chamber.

I think constant exposure to holy light is making her grumpy, that and the stress from these latest series of events must be building off.

"Alright, here we go," Artyom whispers as we both follow after the maid.

… We almost bumped into her; on the first steps of what I now could see was a mage's workshop.

Of course, this realization only happened in the backdrop of my mind, as I was too busy staring at… something else.

In a way… It mirrored the vision of the mansion the illusion projected, an enormous tower of black flesh and building structures piercing up toward the heavens.

There is no heaven here, only the ceiling, and it wasn't a tower of black flesh piercing it… The flesh was red, raw and bleeding, with veins, organs, and exposed nerves all jutting out from a mass of muscle, bones and metal. Skin, brains, hearts, lungs, stomachs, and even whole humanoid forms were recognizable across the unholy structure of mangled flesh that glared at us with many human eyes that looked proportionally tiny on its hulking whole.

Artyom fell to his knees beside us, the few remaining contents on his stomach soon painted the bloodstained floor, only adding to the stank of metal and rot.

"… _What the fuck is that_." Belinda whispered, taking a step forward.

As if the vision and the smell weren't enough, the approach causes a reaction; it began to scream, cry, growl, wail and moan all at the same time over multiple _different_ mouths.

My stomach curled.

"This is an illusion." The maid snapped her head towards me. "Elias, this is an illusion, right!?"

I… took a deep breath.

"It's real. It's…" Analyze, you are the only one here that can... the only one without attachment. "It appears to be a tangle of melted bodies, as we can see from the extremities where the bodies looked somewhat in the right shape while connected to a much larger whole that became messier and less coherent as it approaches the center." I informed her and myself, my mouth working automatically. "The metal bits are… the ones not tangled in the flesh, not most of them still whole, so I can… I can recognize most of them. They are Sacred Gears... Illusion based ones has expected..."

The collar of my sweater was roughly pulled to the side, Belinda's dark blue eyes bore down on mine, her pupils were at the size of pin tips.

"Oi Elias, _what the fuck are you saying!?"_ She shook me a little. "Is Nadia _in_ this thing!?"

There were another hurling sounds beneath the grotesque moans of the thing as Artyom added more to this bile.

"I don't know!" I said, shaking her off. "Calm down. We have to verify it first before we draw any conclusions!"

Belinda gritted her teeth as the thing let out a particular loud wail. "And how the _hell_ are we going to do that!?"

"Stop screaming in my face so I could think would help!"

That made her flinch back. I could practically see her reining her emotions back in.

"My apologies." She says briskly, professionally. "We should investigate, see to these notes, and marking… this looks like a ritual chamber."

A ritual chamber with, like she said, several piles of notes, documents, and equipment that one would imagine being cleaned out in preparation for a ritual, though most of them looked burned or destroyed. The complex magical circle that spread across the room was mostly intact, with the meshed thing in the dead center of it. The lines seem a bit uneven, which tells me that they were hastily made. That or the caster was too inept to make proper lines, and with the complexity presented in them, I doubt it was the latter.

"F-Fuckkkkk, what the fuck is this sick bullshit!"

"You can wait outside Artyom," Belinda said as she walked around the center, carefully avoiding what she could see of the marking on the ground, those that were not hidden by the bloodstains that is. "You don't have to see this."

Like I said, the mesh of flesh and Sacred Gears had more concrete forms on the extremities than the center. There was one it particular that looked like a fully formed body of a girl with that added flesh attached to her waist and right arm. When Belinda got close, this body lunged towards her with a cry, detaching its arm from the whole and flailing around by her waist. The maid barely acknowledged it as she dodged.

I, however, could see the long string of flesh that was left in the place of her detached arm…

Wait.

Ignoring the wobbly human beside me, I took a few steps toward it, staying just out of range of the grasping limbs.

"I have an idea," I said and sent my shadow forwards.

My shadow met the one projected from the tangle of flesh, and my mother's jealousy echoed across my mind even in this inappropriate time. This isn't something I do as much anymore, only with her and usually without thinking, so I could see how she started to believe it was a special thing we got going on. She quickly reined in her jealousy though, and I could feel that she had accepted it for the cause.

I closed my eyes, forcefully merging our shadows deeper, until they became essentially one. It was harder than with mother's because I had to do all the work, and this shadow is much less receptive than hers, but I managed.

The volume of the noises the thing was making lowered. Its movements started slowing down, most likely focusing on the weird new sensation… With the parts of its equally tangled mind that were capable of focusing, I suddenly realized.

Regardless, now comes the most challenging part, something I had only managed to do it perfectly once, with my mother all those years ago. I've gotten better since then, but because of this non-Dantalion shadow of mangled body and mind, it's almost guaranteed that I wouldn't have a perfect result.

No matter, it is for a worthy cause, and I hope it'll be enough.

This thing has a shadow, a shadow that was once many, but a shadow nevertheless, an eternal companion that has been with it throughout its entire existence. For everything that is, casts a shadow.

 **Show me.**

 _…_

 _…_

 _…S…i…n…A…_

 _Bk…Ostra… Margar…._

 _Sister… of course… it would be…_ _star… cradling._

 _Violent… baby…_ _carousel… apple… jumping… dancing._

 _Thank you… Knight of the rubber duck… Love you forever…_

 _Daddy fuck me more… why is this doggy doing… it hurts it hurts it hurts Please!._

 _Sense, by the power of greyskull, two cups of sugar…_

 _TarantelaPokemonLetGoMydearfriendTransportexpressIundrestandfatherthereisasparkinyouthats..._

 _SoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootballSoccerfootball._

 _ALL THE COLORS ARE SINGING!_

Multiple streams of memories. Rotten, corrupted, incomplete, and out of place, like pieces of several jigsaw puzzles mixed into a bowl and set partially on fire, _descended_ upon my mind.

Hard to place, hard to experience, hard to make sense of it.

 _FUCK_ that! I'm the goddamn shadowlord! Fuck this mangled state! _**YOU THINK I'M INCAPABLE OF ORGANIZING IT MYSELF!?**_

 _She watched the cards move according to the rules… these rules and conditions, they all depended on what people saw and how they saw it. She loved things that depended on what people saw; those were particularly easy to twist. Las Vegas, the jewel of Mojave Desert, soon knew what she was called, but never her real face, she was very careful about that._

 _One night, she met a handsome man who could see through things she twisted._

 _She had an imaginary friend, no one believed her when she said wasn't imaginary, but her parents smiled and rubbed her head when she mentioned them. Eventually, as she grew older, the smiles and head rubs were replaced by worried looks, so she stopped mentioning him. He never left though, always doing what she told him to and keeping her safe when she needed it, an invisible guardian no one believed she had._

 _One cloudy day, she fell in love with a prince that believed her, she didn't understand why her guardian tried to protect her from him though, they were in love!_

 _The world wasn't dull anymore. Now it was brimming with excitement! Magic is real, fairies existed, and she apparently had superpowers! Clearly, she was meant to be a hero, to don the cape and a mask and call herself the super mage misty illusionist girl!... The name's a work in process…_

 _She hears rumors about a vampire. A vampire! Can you believe it!? She'd better see to it, and if he was hot enough, maybe she could go full Buffy fufufu!_

 _Her father tried to leave the supernatural behind. He had told her the full story behind it after he deemed her mature enough. She was really proud that the occasion happened in her teenage years. She agreed with her father; she wanted nothing to do with it, firmly believing it would bring nothing but trouble; it was her choice._

 _As the extremely pale man that was to conduct her job interview smiled his inhumanly pointy smile, she knew her choice mattered nothing, for the supernatural has come for her._

So many women, adults, teens, children… Their cleanest and latest memories are of the meeting with the vampire named Edward, it doesn't take long for him to enchant their minds after it, turning their more recent memories into traumatic hazes.

I couldn't see all, many were missing, others were broken by pain or twisted by insanity, but there was always something, always a piece of one of the girls that made this pile.

 _None_ of the lives I've seen looked remotely like Nadia's.

"She is not there."

I heard Belinda hiccuping, and realized she has moved to my side. Her hand laid on my shoulder, where she gave a thankful squeeze.

'Are you sure' she didn't ask it; she apparent trusted my ability a hundred percent. She just asked:

"Where is she, then?"

…It's somewhat weird receiving this level of trust from someone other than my mother.

But I wouldn't find Nadia looking at the shadow of this twisted thing made out of innocent women. No, I needed to change my tactics.

Taking a deep breath, I prepared for something a bit untested.

"That's what I'm about to find out," I said as I cut the shadow connection and directed it someplace else.

I've held the theory of what I'm about to do for a very long time but I never had the time, or the opportunity to test it. It would be a useful ability if it was possible, but it had practically no combat application, so I've always pushed it to the side in favor of more training, focusing on things that felt more urgent.

Now, though, the opportunity is perfect.

My shadow separated itself over and over again, forming an intricate spider web that just kept growing and expanding. In this room, it connected itself to the lonely furniture on the corner, to every piece of burnt paper scattered across the ground, to the discarded books under a fallen bookcase.

And through the corridor it continued, rising upward from the tunnel, passing the arc of light, and separating again to connect to every single object on the library/office. After this, it slipped from under the door to the rest of the mansion, continuing its relentless merging until my shadow was deeply connected to _every single thing_ in this place, and a bit of the destroyed garden outside.

 **Everything that is, cast a shadow.** And a shadow by its nature doesn't change. Sure, each individual shadow is affected by the source it is attached to, but that's like hanging different types of decorations onto a Christmas tree; it does make it unique, but it is still a tree in the end.

The shadows record the history of whatever it is attached to. On a living being, this fact is deeply connected to its memories, so when I pull its history from their shadow, the memory comes together with it. However, _every_ shadow does that, even those attached to inanimate objects.

I have no idea what it will come when I pull, it can't be the memories because inanimate objects lack the ability to produce them, but I'm confident I'll at least get _something._

This is untested, unknown. And therefore, dangerous.

But it's worth it; for Belinda.

-0-0-0-

 _The world is filled with air, so the air is always in contact with something. Air is also always vibrating into several different patterns, these patterns are caused by the constant movement of everything in this world. Not all patterns are the same, some are bigger or more vibrant than others, this is caused due to 'proximity', patterns also come in many types but one is particularly noticeable, this is a highly complex and turbulent pattern called 'words'._

 _Right now, words are bouncing around the room._

 _"Read it."_

 _"Read it."_

 _"Read it."_

 _Each word was followed by a thud of hard contact between a table and a book, symbolizing the fact that the books were being dropped onto the table._

 _"Tck." The sharp vibration and the microscopic droplets of saliva on the floor suggested a click of the tongue. "I've already read everything! When is that pedophile going to restock this place with something new!"_

 _Fluttering in the air, a flash in the mirror carrying subtle differences in the light it reflected, suggesting a yellow golden color; blonde hair fluttering in the air, impact, and pressure on the floor that indicated movement. She walked._

 _A chair was pulled from its place in front of the book-filled table, the woods of the floor and the bottom of the chair's legs creaking loudly. A sudden pressure fell on the cushion of the chair._

 _The pressure suggested the curve of a bountiful rear; the weight showed that the size of the rear was slightly unbalanced with the thin shape of the body. A wave of very long blonde hair fell almost to the ground._

 _The mirror on the table now reflected the light directly. Revealing a girl whose pretty features were scrunched into a frown. Her nostrils flared as she buffed._

 _"Ah, another unproductive today, I'll have to ask him directly but, urg!" Movement, an elbow resting on the table, the mirror reflected the girl rubbing her temples._

 _"Maybe it's time to ditch him…"_

 _The girl never noticed the creature crawling on top of the bookshelf; it's tiny paws and sharp claws biting slightly into the wood. She also never noticed how the cold body downstairs stopped humping air._

 _She certainly noticed when the air was overwhelmed by the flustering hundred pairs of wings of creatures similar to the spying one._

 _"You little_ _ **bitch!**_ _" Different words came from everywhere in a graver tone. A body was formed on the point where the small flustering creatures converged, what appeared from it smashed the girl against the table, throwing the chair, books, and mirror to the floor._

 _There was struggle, screams, and the air was disturbed by overwhelming chaos._

 _In the end, the girl was pinned by the much larger man._

 _"How long have you been playing this little_ _ **game!?"**_ _Vibrations presented a different pattern; the girl was being choked. "Did you find it fun?_ _ **Humiliating**_ _me like that!?_ _ **Did you think I wouldn't notice!?"**_

 _A grunt, a muffed wail, a cry, liquid met the floor, tears, blood. There are injuries._

 _"Hah! How_ _ **precious.**_ _You think this would work again~." Vibrations indicated that the girl was desperately trying to inhale air, the bits of cold skin indicated she was scratching the man in an attempt to get free. "I have countermeasures against your eye!"_

 _A loud acidic hiss echoed across the room, and the girl screamed as much as she could under the chokehold. Her body contorted under his._

 _"Now do you understand where you're at little bitch!? I'll show you what happens when you try to fool your betters!"_

 _And so he did._

 _The mansion told stories of what he did._

 _The girl's screams bounced frequently against the walls, pieces of her occasionally impacted the floors, the wood drank deeply from her blood._

 _He paraded her around, almost like he wanted to leave a mark of her across the whole mansion. Every corner was used, every object contributed in some way to the girl's prolonged torture. In the end, he succeeded in his task of marking her across the place._

 _The saga of pain and suffering ended twelve hours after his rampage started. It took this long for his rage to subside. By the end, the girl was barely alive, her body broken and crippled, forever._

 _He dragged her across the corridors, pulling her to the room he was using as his own. He threw her broken body on his bed, not caring how the crimson blood soaked the previously white sheets._

 _The girl let out a coarse cry as he dug his fingers in the exposed muscles of her useless leg. Gripping around her bones as he pulled her body until the mangled legs fell off the edge of the bed, and her bountiful hips resting directly over it._

 _"And now, my dear Nadia, before you die, I'll take what you've been denying me all this time." He declares, tearing his belt from his pants._

 _The girl let out a gurgling whine as he raises her hips and forcefully spread her legs open, forcing pressure over her broken kneecaps._

 _It was ironic then that he, just like the girl, didn't notice the crawling creature until it was too late._

 _More precisely, when he reaches out to his member to position it against the girl's entrance, he flinched back with a loud, shrill hiss that bounced across the entire mansion. His body dissolved into a flock of bats just as an arachnid corpse hit the floor._

 _Then, from everywhere and everything, a black cloud rose, quickly overwhelming the flustering of the bat with an all-encompassing buzz of an enormous swarm._

 _The flock put up a fight, the marked walls and knocked furniture reported on that, but for each insect a bat killed, hundreds more crawled over their bodies, sticking and biting and pushing enough venom into the vampire's animal parts for even a partially undead creature like him to feel it. Nadia curled over herself as much as she could as the swarm grew thicker, louder, and ever more violent._

 _Soon, there was a crash; a partially reformed body falling on the corner of the room, using a nightstand to prop himself to a sitting position._

 _When Edward the vampire fully reformed, with clothes in tatters and bite marks all over his body, he looked up the now converging swarm of insects and cursed. The converging point, like him, also formed into a vampiric shape._

 _New pressure on the floors told stories of a feminine body of waifish proportions, standing taller than Nadia but not as tall as the vampire. The lack of fluttering around its form indicated a lack of clothes, or clothes that cling tightly to the skin. The tapping of the sole against the floor indicated footwear made of strange material. Differences in the light revealed armor plates of that same material._

 _"She Who Skitters In The Dark." The very low vibrations coming from the fallen vampire indicated a quiet muttering. The other of his kind continued to regard him blankly with lenses that shone yellow. "Keh, is that a way to treat a valuable asset, oh my esteemed sponsor of the Carmilla faction? I do have a mail address, you know?"_

 _Emotion couldn't be sensed by objects, but some emotions, some emotions have power behind them, Love was one of them, an emotion that transcended the realm of a mere emotions; it could anchor a soul on the physical plane after death, create an impenetrable barrier around an ancestral home, and even make life prevail when it shouldn't be possible._

 _ **Hate**_ _was another…_

 _And by the amount of hate that sank into the walls, it was clear to all that the female vampire hated the male one._

 _"Do you, my lord?" The hinges creaked quietly as the door of the room was softly pushed open. A new, gracious pair of footsteps made their way inside the room. "Doesn't that betray the purpose of your… seclusion? Making you easier to find? Easier to track? I can't see why you'd want that."_

 _The vampire tensed with the appearance of the other woman, but relaxed just as quickly. "Ah, a proper lady rather than a mindless tool. I was afraid they would insult me further by sending only this skittering thing." The vampire rose to his feet, ignoring the state of his dress and the bleeding girl on the bed. "Hm, it appears that have me at a disadvantage, my lady. Though if I could be so forward, I'd say your fine features place you squarely at the noble house of the Livsey." His weight shifts into a deep, respectful bow. "I humbly thank you for coming all the way from the New World to grace this one with your presence."_

 _"My, what a devilish charmer you are, my lord. I can see now why the meat downstairs flocks around you." An ornamented fan lightly waved, disturbing the air. "However, as much as it would delight me to exchange pleasantries, I'm afraid we have to focus on your sudden and very unannounced seclusion."_

 _"Ah, I'm afraid reports about this 'seclusion' of mine have been greatly exaggerated, I'd merely wish for a quick vacation! Brilliant minds need rest too…"_

 _There was a quiet thud, the elegant fan meeting a gloved hand._

 _"Ah, but this vacation caused quite a stir, especially with your continued possession of the precious artifact the Carmilla faction had gracefully lent to you for the sole purpose of research."_

 _"And I assure you that it was for research I've kept it. After all, I do have to keep my end of the bargain, have I not? An honorable contract that, might I inform you, is still very much within the deadline established."_

 _"But my lord, weren't you on vacation?"_

 _"Oh, a genius such as me can never fully stop working, I assure you that even here I continue to work tirelessly in favor of the faction's desires."_

 _"My lord... It seems more and more likely that the reason for my visit was caused by nothing more than a grave misunderstanding…"_

 _"Ah, the bane of all good relationships."_

 _"Indeed, still, it would be a shame to let this opportunity go. Would you like to join me for a bit of tea... and a_ _ **conversation?**_ _"_

 _"Oh, my lady." The vampire bowed again. "It would be my honor…"_

 _She brushed her elegant fan against her lips, revealing that, on that very moment, they were curled into a smile that could only be described as 'vulpine'._

 _There was a talk, a long one, over untouched tea that grew cold._

 _The talk was a prelude to the chaos that followed._

 _Once more, history was written on the walls of the mansion, this time a history of battle, of victory, of defeat, and of dark sacrifice._

 _"FUCK!" Said the eternally young blonde woman, without a single trace of her ladylike behavior from earlier. "Didn't think he would actually have progressed the research to this point."_

 _They were now standing on the poorly kept garden outside, having just fought against a large group of Sacred Gear wielders and bore witness to the horrifying fusion of their bodies and powers that befell upon them. The fusion's combined power was already bleeding out from the basement and visibly starting to affect the building._

 _"Ah well, at least we got what we came here for." She says, wiggling the deceptively small pile of paper containing the core of the Carmilla's Faction precious research with one hand, and pulling a sack that was weighed down by something that would normally take five adult men to raise, over her shoulder. "Urg! Can you believe that guy!? I'm glad we're replacing him!"_

 _"Hn." Was her companion's quiet answer, it could barely be heard from inside her mask._

 _The blonde vampire looks curiously at the bodysuit-wearing one. "Hey… Why the hell are you bothering with this girl? She's going to die, you know?"_

 _She received no answer to that. The insect-user just continued to hold Nadia's mangled form in her arms._

 _The blonde clicked her tone. "You and your bleeding heart…" She sighed. "Come on, let's get out of here, the boss must want a report as soon as possible."_

 _Wordlessly, the two vampires women and the injured Nadia melted away into the darkness of the forest. Leaving the twisting mansion and it's contagious illusion magic behind._

-0-0-0-

"ELY!"

I woke up to the vision of my Mother worriedly looking over me, with Belinda in the background.

Not a bad thing to wake up to, even if their worrying stares don't fit the image I usually like.

"Hey-" I said, before realizing I was lying down, with my torso in my mother's arms. "What the hell?"

"You fell down suddenly and I…" Mother spoke with a bit of trembling edge. "You're bleeding!" Her blood-red eyes were looking a bit… frenzied.

Absentmindedly, I raise my fingers to touch the warm spot below my nostrils. Blood.

I guess folding my mind in unnatural ways so I could perceive the world in the technically not real perspective of inanimate objects put a tiny bit of stress on my brain.

Whatever, is not _that_ much blood, and I got used to it towards the end.

"I'm fine. But more importantly, I found out where Nadia is! Well, where she was taken-"

"Never do that again."

"Err, sorry?"

Mother _loomed_ over me with a shadow cast over her too neutral expression, her crimson eyes gleaming.

 _"Never do that again."_

"…O-ok, sorry mom."

After that, my mother couldn't hold it anymore, she immediately latched the rest of her body onto mine, trying to fuse us in a more heartwarming way than the other fusion in the room.

"BWUAAAHHH! ELYYY! MOMMY WAS SO WORRIED, YOU NEVER EVER PASSED OUT LIKE THAT BEFORE, AAND THE BLOOD! SO MUCH BLOOD AHHH!"

G-good grief.

I began to pat her silky hair as she buried her comically crying face on my chest. Her still larger body pinning me down like a sexy marshmallow blanket.

"There, there, nothing bad happened. I'm fine now," I reassured her while Belinda approached from the side.

"Elias I…" Her eyes were downcast and the grip on her sword trembled. "I'm so sorry."

I kept dragging my hands over my mother's hair as I turned to the maid. "This is literally not your fault."

She bit her lower lip, making me want to hug her.

"If I wasn't so insistent, you wouldn't have put yourself in danger."

"You didn't tell me to do anything. It was my own choice." I sighed, putting my head back on the cold metal floor of the workshop. " And now I know where we must go next."

This is starting to get complicated. Part of me was hoping we'd find Nadia at the end of the forest, hell, even if she was within that nightmarish fusion it would've been better, as I could always bullshit my way to a solution…

But no, looks like we're sticking our heads neck-deep in vampire conspiracy because, for some reason, the feminazi side of vampire society is playing around with odd forms of illusion magic for some unknown, but undoubtedly nefarious purpose.

I thought back on the 'Artifact' lent to the vampire named Edward that served as the central piece of his research and the improvised catalyst in the incomplete ritual that fused thirty-six humans and their illusion based Sacred Gears into a living tower of tangled flesh with unstable but freakishly powerful illusion powers.

… How in the fuck did a _Norse Runestone_ do all of that!? And why there is a freaking Norse Runestone in the vampire's hand in the first place!?

This shit is getting complicated.

-0-0-0-

The small England countryside road was too bumpy for Irina's taste, certainly so when they made the car jump and forced the seat to bump against her aching behind.

"Moou, you're so cruel, otou-san!" She finally expressed her frustrations out loud, breaking the twenty minutes of silent pouty treatment.

"Me?" Shidou Touji responded, his eyes never leaving the road ahead. "Whatever did I do, daughter of mine?" He spoke innocently. English was the language that he used. He did that as a silent encouragement; Irina has come a long way since they've come to the British islands, but she could still use some practice.

"You didn't stop the old hag!" She said, switching languages.

He sent her a warning look. "That's mother superior you're talking about!"

"She whooped my butt with a paddle!"

Touji couldn't help it; he let out a little snort.

"AHH! You think it's funny! You're the worst, daddy!"

"Hey now, I don't make the rules." He glanced down to his daughter in the passenger seat, her charmingly ruffled uniform contrasting nicely with her chestnut hair, which now grew past her shoulder. He smiled at that, glad that his little girl was turning more feminine.

"Yeah, but aren't you like, mother superior's boss?" Irina pouted, remembering once again that her father stood aside while she received her totally unfair punishment.

"The order doesn't work like that. And besides, wasn't it you who picked a fight with those girls in the first place?"

"But they were bullying Sebastian again! Just because he's not very good at sword lesson those meanies…"

"I know that, and that's why you are not grounded. I'm proud of you for standing up for your friend." Touji smiled, remembering the boy who stopped them on their way out and apologized profusely to his daughter. Yes, he understood exactly what had happened.

"Eh!?" Irina gasped. "T-T-Then why did you let them spank me!?"

The holy sword wielder exhaled a long fatherly breath, putting a soft smile on his face, "Oh little one, you might have shown valor and integrity by standing up for the one who couldn't. But you still did so by breaking the academy's rules." One of his hands let go of the steering wheel to gently grip the crucifix hanging on his neck. "It is our duty to uphold the rules at all cost, even when it seems impossible and impractical, or another way seems to be better. We must use our heart to utilize them for the best of all people..."

"Uhhh," Irina frowned cutely; doing things cutely came naturally for her, not that she realized that yet. "I still think you did it cuz it was funny."

Touji let out a chuckle and shook his head. "You'll understand when you're older. Now." His smile became wider. "I got a surprise for you. Someone very special came to visit, and I'm hoping you'll get along."

Irina immediately perked up. Her thoughts flashed back to her time in Japan, to the one she misses the most…

She does like her life in England. Sure, it was hard at first, learning a new language, integrating into a new culture, trying to learn her way across an unfamiliar new village much more compact than the growing metropolis that was Kuoh, and it had become even harder when she enrolled in the Cross Academy, renowned catholic academy to the normals, exorcist training camp for the not-so-much. In the end, she did manage to find a place here, to make new and precious friends to make new memories with.

But there is one thing missing, one thing she left back in Japan: the friend that makes her entire afternoon warmer when they play together, that lingers in her thoughts when she's feeling lonely or bored, that makes everything more fun and memorable just by being there. Her _best_ friend.

 _Ise._ She let her mind wander to their time together, a smile unconsciously spreading on her face. It got to be Ise, right? Who else would her daddy call 'special'.

With her smile growing wider and eager. She began to pester her daddy about their visitors. Receiving only smiles and verbal dodges as responses.

Their car made its way out of the bumpy road to one more paved, the vision at the sides would only be called picturesque; fields of soft greens and colorful flowers, gentle hamlets of fairytale-like houses, and the occasional sheep or horse rolled across the window as the car sped up. Riding its way across the England countryside in the direction of London, where the rural beauty would be replaced by urban wonders and probably… showers of rain.

However, a short couple of hours away from the city, the car turned into a straighter but no less well-maintained road. Briefly after, the occasional house or shed became more frequent, and it continued to do so until they were finally riding over the charming brick streets of Bellespring Village.

Normally, Irina would be looking around, enjoying the view of the quaint doll-like houses adorably pushed together beside the streets, or waving for the figures she recognized on the sidewalks. But she was too focused on her mysterious but hopefully not so mysterious visitor. She couldn't wait to get home, so naturally, the minute travel to her house took _forever._

"Now Irina, I want you to behave- _Irina!"_

The girl was already out of the car and crossing the well-mannered front garden to the door by the time her father notice her absence. Her sharpening senses picked up something different about the familiar visage, but it wasn't strong enough to make her pause. However, the insides of the house were too subtly distinct for her senses not to catch it, so she stopped and blinked.

Her house was _spotless._ Not to say it wasn't normally clean, her mother does an excellent job every day after all, but it was never clean to _that_ extent; literal specks of lights could be seen gleaming across the walls, she could practically see her reflection on the wooden furniture, and the curtains, something Irina was fairly certain was a family heirloom older than she was, looked new and pristine like they were bought yesterday.

The immaculate state of the living room melted away from her list of priorities when she saw the figure standing by the corner, however.

"M-MAID!" Irina shouted, pointing a finger.

Indeed, the figure was most definitely a maid; no one in their right mind would deny it. The maid in question slowly straightened her back, turning from the display she was meticulously cleaning and making her cleaning utensils disappear into the void like any proper maid would. Irina soon got the full view of the impressive Scandinavian beauty clad in an iconic maid outfit that managed to remain modest while subtly accentuating her curves. A vision otaku degenerates of her home country would sacrifice innocents to unholy rituals to see.

The maid in question, seeing the growing number of stars on the young girl's eyes, could only do one thing.

"Welcome home, young lady." She greeted dutifully with a respectful bow. Her bright blue eyes were shining with a cool light of pure professionalism, with just a hint of amusement visible only for those who know her best.

"SOOOOO COOL!"

"Irina? Why are you shouting?"

From the corridor that led to the kitchen, Irina's mother appeared. The girl was about to talk the woman's ears off about the _actual maid_ in their living room, but her voice trails off before she could speak the first syllable.

You see; Isabella Shidou, nee Evans, was a stunning woman. Irina had heard stories from her father about modeling agencies and rival suitors chasing after her all the time back on they were younger, and she could definitely see that; Her mother stood at 1.68 meters, had a body that her father had described as 'firm' but also 'yummy' when he thought she wasn't listening, and a pretty face with noble features that were only enhanced by a small button nose, gentle green eyes with a tiny mole under the right one, and brilliant golden hair. Everything about her drew lingering gazes, and she always stood up when compared to the mothers or even older sisters of her friends.

But the woman that had walked into the living room behind her, effortlessly made her fade to the background.

"Wooah!" Irina gasped, taking in the captivating features of strange woman; you didn't see a combination of snow-white hair and red eyes every day, and she couldn't believe how _good_ she looked, seriously this woman was prettier than those on movies, she was prettier than the ones on fashion magazines, Irina couldn't believe how pretty she was, hell, she couldn't even believe someone could be this pretty.

*Boing*

 _And her boobs are gigantic holy crap!_

The girl simply didn't know if she should marvel at the woman's beauty or the way her boobs _bounced_ with each step she took. Currently, the boobs were winning, mostly because she was wondering how Ise would react to them. He had been acting pretty strangely about the subject around the time she was about to move.

So lost in thoughts was the girl that she didn't even notice the next few lines of inquiry thrown on her way by her mother, which was looking a bit embarrassed by how blatantly clear the targets of her daughter's undivided attentions were.

The white-haired woman giggled the giggle of someone who was used to it and knelt right before the girl.

"Hello there." The woman greeted gently, bringing the girl's attention back.

"Ah." Irina tried to step back only to bump on the sturdy legs of her father, who has entered the house after her.

"Irina. This is Ms. Dandelion. She is an important associate of mine; she and her family will be staying here for a few days. You will treat her with the proper respect." Shidou Touji said in a firm voice he used to get his daughter to understand the importance of the statement. Incidentally, he was also a man of God and a paragon of virtue, so he definitely didn't sneak a few glances at Ms. Dandelion's mighty cleavage, especially not in front of his wife. Clearly, the stink eyes his beloved wife was sending him must be a mistake.

Irina blinked, processing her father's words and the way he had said it. One of his associates… Oh, She must be from his church job! No wonder she looks so angelic.

Then she remembered to introduce herself.

"A-Ah- Hello! My name is Shidou Irina. It's a pleasure to meet you, ma'am." She said, bowing deeply.

Wait… she spoke in Japanese! And even gave a Japanese greeting bow!

Her cheeks heated with embarrassment.

Despite her blunder, however, the woman giggled melodically.

"Hi there Irina-chan, I'm Araneya Dandelion, the pleasure is all mine." The woman responded in flawless Japanese, giving a polite bow of her own.

 _Safe!_ Irina can already say she's going to like this lady.

"Now." Touji said, "Ms. Dandelion's son is upstairs, he's around your age, why do you go there and introduce yourself? I think you'll get along greatly." He smiled hopefully at the thought.

"Okay." She says automatically. This has happened before; usually, when a visitor brings children along, she is tasked with their entertainment and they are exiled to a different part of the house so the adults could talk. Irina doesn't mind too much as she likes meeting new people and make friends. Provided that they're not jerks, of course.

So she did what she was told, quickly making her way upstairs while admiring how shiny and clean everything looked. She didn't even know cleanliness like that was possible.

She was about to open the guest room door when the implication finally dawned on her.

… It wasn't Ise.

That made her chest tighten a little. She chewed on her lips for a second as a moody wave of loneliness crashed over her head. But soon, she was pulling a deep breath and putting a smile up. These visitors are not bad at all! They even brought a cool maid with them! Sure it would be better if it was her best friend and his family but who knows, maybe she will be good friends with Ms. Dandelion's son.

So she knocked on the door, not even waiting for a response before opening.

"HELLOoooo…" Her enthusiastic greeting, tried and tested in many first impressions in the past, wheezed and failed as she took in the room.

Her mind didn't detect the spotless state of the room, nor the small but elegant pile of baggage on the corner. Her mind was currently incapable of noticing anything else besides _him._

He was like… an art piece; something made out of the finest marble, carefully and meticulously carved into a form and shape designed to enchant the viewer and grab hold of their attention. A living pondering about the answer to "what is beauty?" and "what is pretty?" and "what is attractive?" He _had_ details and a defined appearance, but it was hard to conjure something to describe him, like the words itself were struggling against each other for the privilege to fit his image.

His mother could serve as a foundation for it, Irina's young mind unconsciously realized; he had much of her in him, and that anchors his appearance to the earthly plane. His hair was snow-white, like hers, if hers had an ever-present ethereal aspect that seems to blend with the world. His features were similar; hers were the base that his were carved from, a diamond made from his mother's charcoal. His body was hidden under loose, lazy clothes, a simple black slack of thin material, a large, fluffy gray sweater that looked ungodly comfortable, and a largish bovine amulet that hang from a loose cord around his neck. All of that looked… right on him somehow. Parts of a perfect puzzle that fits neatly.

Irina never saw a boy so… no, she never so _anyone_ so… p-pretty.

Even shadows of the room seem to shimmer, like the world itself has cast a spotlight on him and her, like there were only the two of them in the universe and nothing else.

Irina had to catch herself as her legs grew weaker, she suddenly noticed how her clothes were now clinging on her skin and wondered who had raised the heater to that extent. And her heart; it was racing, racing like never before-

Red. She could see it now. Like crimson moons or bright scarlet gems, two twin pools illuminated by a warm carmine light.

The boy had opened his eyes.

"Eep!" She flinched back, making a sound like a small animal. It was not her proudest moment.

The noise drew the boy's attention. It was almost… oppressive. Having those deep pools of reds over her, watching her every move, _judging_ her… She didn't think…

The boy smiled, and a weight dropped from her shoulders.

 _W-W-What's wrong with me today!?_ Irina thought frenetically. I-It was just a boy, a-a new potential friend! She'd met boys in the past, even some she would now call pretty, so why does- _OH GOD HE'S COMING CLOSER._

The boy moved so fluidly, with so much ease that it takes a few seconds to notice he had moved at all. Irina took a step back, trying to calm her heart and breaths and put her jumbled thoughts in order.

He was taller, taller than her, older, an older boy, more mature and experienced. Why did she like that so much!?

N-Not good s-she had to make a good impression! Y-Yeah, a good impression is everything!

She closed her eyes. It helped a little.

"H-ee _LO_ I-I-I'm SHIDOU IRINA! N-N-Nice- _Gah!"_

Japanese again! And she was about to bow too! His mother might know about the language but he might not. S-She screw it up already!

She opens her eyes to apologized- And the boy was nowhere to be seen. Irina blinked and looked around, quickly seeing where he was.

"EH!? KNEELING!?" She vocalized, to the mysterious boy's great amusement.

"Greetings…" He says, his voice was like those vinyl records her grandmother has, she could listen to it for hours. "You must be the young lady of this house. This one goes by the name Elias Dandelion." And he fancily moved his hand- _Which was holding hers!_ She followed the movements until- K-K-K-KISSING!

"Enchanted…"

 _He introduced himself_ _ **like a**_ _**prince!**_

"Ah…huaw…Nani…Nani…?" Irina's mind was going over a hundred miles an hour and yet moving at a snail's pace. This… _memorable_ first impression was rapidly starting to take its toll.

Elias then processed to look up at her with the most caring crimson eyes and a flowery smile.

It was a _deadly_ final blow.

"I hope we become great friends!"

 _"Fue!"_ The poor girl gasped as she fell back, with the excess blood gathered on her head bursting from her nostrils.

"Yare Yare…" Said Elias over the unconscious girl, the amused smile never leaving his lips.

He could already feel his stay here will be an interesting one.

* * *

A/n: This is the chapter where you discover how SUBTLE I am with my references!


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